
Class '\^\'y^ 

Book \' W^lAS 



TOERI^GFOED 



IN CONNECTION WITH THE 



CE:]NrTE]NrNiA.L 



OF THE 



SETTLEMENT OF THE FIRST PASTOK, 



Rev. SAMUEL J. MILLS. 



HARTFORD: 

CASE, LOCKWOOD & BRAINARU, PRINTERS. 
1870. 



TOERIi^GFOED: 

IN CONNECTION WITH THE 

OF THE ■■ 

SETTLEMENT OF THE FIRST PASTOR, 
Rev. SAMUEL J. MILLS. 



HARTFORD: 

CASE, LOCKWOOD & BRAINARD, PRINTERS. 
1870. 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 
The Celebration, ___.__. 5 — 18 

Addresses— Of Rev. H. L. Vaill at the grave of Mr. Mills, 48—50 
Of Eev. J. F. Gaylord and James H. Holcomb, Esq., - 6—8 

Of Rev. F. Noble and E. W. Hatch, M. D., - - 8—12 

Of Dea. J. H. Hayden, on the Connection of the Early 

Settlers with Windsor, ----- 12—16 

Poem— by Mrs. Martha A. Lowrey, - _ - 16—18 

Historical Discourse, - - ' - - - - 19 — 47 

Settlement, Fortified Buildings, Wild Beasts, - - 19,20 

Wolcottville, ------- 21 

Public Worship — Names of first Petitioners for ; Efforts to 

secure an Ecclesiastical Society ; Act bf Incorporation, - 20 — 25 
Size of Families then and now, - - . - 28 

Ministers who preceded Mr. Mills, - - - - 25 

Mr. Mills and Mr. Goodman, . - . - 26—30 

Ministers who have succeeded Mr. Goodman, - - 30 

Services at the Settlement of Mr. Mills, and of his Successors, 26 — 29 
The two Houses of Worship, ----- 31 — 34 

Education ; Schools, School Teachers and Educated Persons, 34, 35 
The Church ; Date of Organization not known ; Early Rec- 
ords burned, ------ 36 

Salaries of the ]\linisters ; Parsonage ; Modes of Meeting 
Annual Expenses, - - - - - 

Dissenters, and Treatment of, t 
Mortality, Burial Ground, Sexton,,' 
Emigration, Extent of, - ' ' - 
The Sunday School, - - - - - 

Revivals; Number of Members; Connection with the Conso- 
ciation, and with Reforms ; The Deacons, - 
Henry Obookiah, - - - - - 

Samuel J. Mills, Jr., - - - - - 



Conclusion, 



- 


37, 


38 




38, 


39 


- 




39 




39, 


40 


- 


36, 


37 


0- 


40, 


41 


42 


,43, 


46 


- 


41- 


-4 7 
47 



In Bxchaug© 



Supplement, _..--- 

List of Settlers before 1769, . . . - 

Father Mills— ...... 

Address of Rev. H. L. Vaill, . - - - 

Statement of Charles Woodward, M. D., - 
Illustrations of the Character of Mr. Mills, 
Sketch by Rev. Luther Plart, - . - - 

References, ------ 

Sketches of Ministers who have served in Torringford and 
are now living, . . - - _ 

Rev. H. L. A-'aill, Rev. Brown Emerson, 
Rev. John D. Baldwin, Rev. W. H. Moore, 
Rev. Stephen Fenn, Rev. Charles Newman, 
Rev. Spencer O. Dyer, Rev. Franklin Noble, - 
Rev. Joseph F. Gaylord, Mr. Dana Mills Walcott, 

Torringford and MiHtary Affairs, - - - - 

List of College Graduates, - - - - - 

Sketches of ]\Iinisters raised up, - - - - 

Rev. Jonathan Miller, Rev. Stanley Griswold, 
Rev. Harvey Loomis, Rev. Orange Lyman, 
Rev. Samuel J. Mills, Jr., Rev. David Miller, 
Rev. Luther Rossiter, Rev. Erasmus D. Moore, 
Rev. Lucius Curtis, Rev. Warren H. Roberts, 

Notices of Ministers' Wives raised up, - - - 

Wife— of Rev. Archibald Bassett, of Rev. Abel Mc- 

Ewen, D. D., - 
of Rev. Harvey Loomis, of Rev. David Miller, 
of Rev. Samuel C. Damon, D.D., of Rev. John P. Gulliver, 
D.D., :------ 

of Rev. Jonathan A. Wainwright, of Rev. George W. Fogg, 

Sketches of Lawyers raised up, . - - . 

Hon. Stanley Griswold, Joseph Miller, Esq., 
Charles I. Battell, Esq., Hudson Burr, Esq., 
John T. Miller, Esq., ----- 

Sketches of Note-Worthy Men raised up, 

Aaron Austin, Eliphalet Austin, - _ - 

Joab Austin, Joseph Battell, - - - . 

Josiali Battell, Rufus Woodward, - - - 

John Bennett Lyman, Ebenezer Harris Rood, 

Notices of Physicians who have resided and practiced in 
Torringford. ------ 

Dr. Isaac Day, Dr. Joel Soper, - - - . 

Dr. Samuel Woodward, Dr. Samuel B. Woodward, 

Dr. Erasmus D. Hudson, Dr. Jairus Case, - 

Dr. Edward W. Hatch, ----- 



Page. 


8—107 




48 


48- 


-59 


48- 


-50 


50, 


51 


52, 


53 


53- 


-59 




59 


60- 


-63 




60 


61, 


62 




62 


62, 


63 


63, 


30 


63- 


-65 




66 


66- 


-70 


66, 


67 


67, 


68 


68, 


69 




69 




70 


70- 


-72 




70 




71 




71 


'1, 


72 


72, 


73 




72 


72, 


73 




73 


73- 


-76 




73 


74; 


, 75 


75, 


, 76 




76 


76- 


-78 




76 




77 




78 



Sketches of Physicians raised up, - _ - _ 78 — §3 

Thaddeus Austin, John Bissell, - - - - 78 

Eliphaz Bissell, Hezekiah Bissell, - - . 78 

Gaylord G. Bissell, Charles R. Bissell, - - - 79 

Elisha Clark, Erskine Curtis, - - - . 79 

Samuel Fyler, Horace C. Gillett, - - - - 79 

Augustine Hayden, Samuel Hayden, - - - 79 

Erasmus D. Hudson, Philander P. Humphrey, - - 80 

Elijah Lyman, Norman Lyman, _ - . 80 

Willard Miller, Allen G. ]\Iiller, - . . . 80 

Gaylord B. Miller, Gaylord B. Miller, 2d, - - 81 

Hiram Watson, Samuel B. Woodward, - - - 81 

Elijah Woodward, Henry Woodward, - - - 82 

Charles Woodward, - - - - - 83 

The Revival of 1799, as described by Father Mills, - - 83—87 

Deacons of the Church, ------ 88 

Statistics of the Church for 1847—1869, - . . 89 

CuuRCH Members, - . . . . 89 — 107 

Alphabetical List of all Persons known to have been 

Members, ------ 89—103 

Alphabetical List of those who are now Members, - 103 — 107 



In the preparation of these pages, valuable assistance has 
been rendered by Roderick Bissell, Esq., Dea. William Wat- 
son, Dea. Harvey L. Rood and others, of Torringford ; and 
by Charles Woodward, M. D., of Middletown, and Mr. Lewis 

Austin, of Austinburg, 0. 

W. H. M. 
Berlin, Jan. 19, 1870. 



THE CELEBRATION. 



In November, 1868, the cliiircli in Torringford, proposing 
to celebrate the hundreth anniversary of the settlement of 
Rev. Samuel J. Mills, the first pastor, appointed Dea. William 
Watson, Dea. Harvey L. Rood, and Roderick Bissell, Esq., a 
committee of arrangements. At the annual meeting of the 
ecclesiastical society, in December of the same year. Burton 
Pond, C. Hopkins Barber, and Stanley Griswold were chosen 
to co-operate with the committee of the church for the occa- 
sion. At a meeting of the citizens in June, 1869, various 
committees of ladies and gentlemen were chosen, and Messrs. 
Burton Pond, Roderick Bissell, Esq., and Willard 0. Barber 
were appointed a committee on publication. The publication of 
the proceedings was subsequently entrusted to Rev. William 
H. Moore, who had been requested to prepare a historical dis- 
course. 

Tuesday, June 29, 1869, was set apart for the celebration. 
On Monday afternoon a storm of memorable severity damaged 
the roads and bridges in all directions, cut off communication 
by carriage with Bakerville and Wolcottville, and arrested 
travel on the Naugatuck railroad. But Tuesday v/as a beau- 
tiful day, and the people assembled in the church, which bore 
on its walls the names of the successive ministers encircled 
by evergreens. 

Roderick Bissell, Esq., presiding officer for the day, called 

the assembly to order at eleven o'clock. The choir, led by 

Willard 0. Barber, sung the anthem, " praise the Lord," 

Rev. Joseph F. Gaylord read the ninetieth psalm, Rev. Brown 

2 



Emerson offered prayer and Rev. William H. Moore delivered 
a historical disconrse. Prayer Avas offered by Rev, Joseph F. 
Gaylord, and the congregation united in the doxology, " Praise 
God from whom all blessings tiow," in the tune Old Hun- 
dred. They then moved in procession to the grave of Father 
Mills, which was decorated with wreaths and flowers, where 
prayer was offered by Rev. Franklin Noble, remarks were 
made by Rev. Hermann L. Vaill, and two stanzas were sung 
in Boylston, of the psalm, "Our days are as the grass." 

The company then gathered about the long tables tastefully 
adorned and generously furnished, under the maples by the 
road-side on the west of the door-yard of Richard W. Gris- 
wold, where, after a blessing invoked by Rev. Franklin Noble, 
they were courteously served and amply replenished. 

In the afternoon, at one o'clock, the people re-assembled in 
the church. Prayer was offered by Rev. George Curtiss, of 
Harwinton. The choir sung, in the tune America, the hymn 
"Far in the olden time." 

Rev. Joseph F. Gaylord then spoke in substance as follows : 

I congratulate the people of Torringford that the fearful 
storm of yesterday is followed by a day so serene and favora- 
ble for your purpose ; and I congratulate myself that after en- 
countering perils by land and water, in connection with the 
rain and the roads, I am permitted to be with you. The oc- 
casion, and the review of the past, teach you a lesson of grati- 
tude to those who have left you such a noble record, and to 
God who, in all generations, is the help of his people. You 
should rejoice over the names which have given lustre to 
your history and have been connected with the progress of 
the Kingdom of Christ, and should gather a new impulse for 
the work you have to do, and to which your fathers gave the 
service of their lives. Abraham Lincoln, at Gettysburg, 
standing over the remains of those who had died for their 
country, said : " The world will little heed, nor long remem- 
ber, what we say here ; but it can never forget what they did 
here." So your ancestry are speaking to you to-day by their 
deeds. Little that was spoken here by Father Mills, and his 
successors in the sacred office, can now be recalled ; but the 



deeds of these good men and of your worthy ancestors re- 
main. This church, and the high-toned moral and religious 
character of this community are their monument. This 
sanctuary, and its holy ordinances and sacred associations 
express the estimate your fathers put upon the institutions of 
the gospel ; and by these they call on you to guard well the 
heritage transmitted to your care. Be not content to glory 
in what they have done, but emulate their excellence, and 
under the inspiration of this occasion dedicate yourselves to 
the work, — in which Mills, the father and. the son, labored — 
of bringing all hearts into subjection to the will of God ; and 
when the second centennial of this church shall be celebrated, 
may the generation then upon the stage be able to reach back- 
ward across the century, and gather from your record such 
impressions and incitements as we now receive from the cent- 
ury whose birth we this day commemorate. 

James H. Holcomb, Esq., of Hartford, said in substance : 
Botli duty and inclination prompted me to unite with you 
in the privileges and testimonials of this day. My knowledge 
of this church and society began nearly fifty years ago, when I 
was a boy in my native place. New Hartford. I used to see on 
the Lord's day, from the summit of Town Hill, the old Tor- 
ringford meeting house standing out against the sky about 
six miles to the westward. Sometimes Father Mills exchanged 
with our minister, and we were glad when we saw him pass- 
ing up into the liigh pulpit, for we expected that before he 
left he would tell us a story such as no other man could tell. 
And when the story came, we wondered how such a solemn- 
looking man could say anything that would make the people 
laugh. 

I attended the academy in Torringford in 1826. The build- 
ing stood near the old church, and Mr. Goodman, the colleague- 
pastor, was the principal. After the first term, I boarded in 
the family of Jeremiah Mills, and I have great reason to praise 
the Providence which brought me under the influence of that 
kind and pious household. There was the aged patriarch, the 
first pastor of this church, like a shock of corn fully ripe and 
ready to take his departure to his heavenly home. I well 



8 

remember his stately and venerable form, his solemn aspect, 
and his words of wisdom. But the bright and shining light 
of that home, at that time, was Mrs. Jeremiah Mills. She 
had a fine, commanding personal appearance, superior abili- 
ties and education, and rare conversational powers, and was, 
above all, one of the most devoted and large-hearted Chris- 
tians I have ever known. The family jewels consisted of five 
daughters and one son, on whom she bestowed a mother's care 
and love. Her Christian influence was felt far beyond her 
own family, and her benevolent desires embraced the whole 
human race. She made religion appear attractive to the un- 
converted. While in her family, and largely owing to her 
fidelity, I was converted and admitted to this church, in 1827. 
The late Judge Gideon Hall, of Winsted, was in like manner 
converted while boarding in her family. While there I 
learned much of Samuel J. Mills, Jr. ; and if his good father 
had done nothing more in this life than to he instrumental in 
giving to the world such a son, all Christendom might, with 
propriety, rise up and call him blessed. 

God grant that all here assembled may be permitted to 
meet on that "shining shore," and unite with all the re- 
deemed in thanksgiving and praise to Him that sitteth on the 
throne, and to the Lamb forever. 

Eev. Franklin Noble said : 

It is a graceful thing for children to celebrate the birth-day 
of their mother. They are apt to celebrate their own birth- 
day, looking forward, hopeful, eager, in the spirit of our im- 
patient Young America. But such a celebration as this is 
retrospective. As the dear old lady recalls her youth, we sit 
down at the fireside with her and take on the quiet reflective 
tone of old age, thinking over the days gone by. 

That was a grand time one hundred years ago, when Sam- 
uel Adams was welding a political theory out of elements as 
different as Jefferson and Hamilton, showing " liberty and 
union one and inseparable ;" when Edwards, of Stockbridge, 
was reconciling divine sovereignty and human freedom in a 
system which every theologian since has been obliged to study, 
whether he understood it or not ; when the question of church 



9 

and state, which even now is the most agitating question in 
the most enlightened nation of Europe, was here settled for- 
ever. True, there was a nominal connection till 1818, but 
the question was practically settled one hundred years ago. 
The eighteenth century may well compare with the nine- 
teenth. 

And this is a grand old lady whose natal day carries us back 
to that time. I do not apologize for calling her my mother ; 
for you must think of all these little parishes as one, and this 
old mother has many children who have a right to " rise up 
and call her blessed," more perhaps than you would think at 
first. My own ancestors found their first permanent home at 
New Milford, and lived later in Berkshire, Mass. The valley 
of Wyoming, in Pennsylvania, made famous by Campbell's 
poem, was once a sister town, being the town of Westmore- 
land, in this county of Litchfield; and those "fire lands" 
granted on the Western Reserve in Ohio, were partly given 
in settlement of the claims of these Connecticut people burnt 
out by Brant in the Wyoming massacre. 

But spiritual derivation is more important than material, 
and shows a more evident son ship ; and New England ideas 
overflow the land. We cannot but speak to-day of missions ; 
and in these, all Americans are children of this place. Not 
that Mills originated the missionary idea. It came from Him 
who said, " Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to 
every creature," but it was communicated to Mills by his 
mother, as a faithful teacher of the traditional and American 
idea. It was the idea of Columbus, as we see in his signa- 
ture, not Christopher but Christo-f evens, vn a document in the 
royal library at Madrid. It is the main thought in the char- 
ter of the Plymouth colony, as well as in that Massachusetts 
charter whose seal is an Indian saying, " Come over and help 
us." Berkeley came to America to carry out this missionary 
idea by planting a mission college at Bermuda ; but finding 
his plan impracticable, he saw no better missionary use to 
make of the funds he had collected, than to increase the en- 
dowment of Yale college. In furtherance of this idea, John 
Sargcant left his promising tutorship at Yale in 1734, and 



10 

founded the mission to the Stockbridge Indians, in which he 
was succeeded by Jonathan Edwards, who went there from his 
important place in Northampton, and from thence was called 
to the presidency of Princeton college, — showing what men 
thought then of missions. 

Missions are not the only Yankee notion that has gone out 
from this region to a popular reception. I can only note here 
the temperance movement, in the early Litchfield " half 
pledge," signed by Judge Reeve and Hon. Frederick Wolcott. 

And this good mother is still, alive, and strong, like one of 
our venerated old ladies, in her black silk dress and faultless 
lawn and linen, more of a queen, perhaps, than seems quite 
good to her daughters-in-law. Her influence is still a power 
upon her children, and we may bless God for it. The best 
type of character is not formed in the hurry and bustle of 
eastern cities, or western new lands. The beauty of still 
life is seen in such a sweet and holy man as Dea. Elizur Cur- 
tis, that last link joining the former century with this, lifted 
into heaven since I was last here, and now gleaming as pure 
gold thrice refined in the light of God. Such ripe loveliness 
seems to need for its development the peaceful quiet of a region 
not in the turmoil of our material progress. Such character 
is the true conservatism resting in calm conscientious convic- 
tion, which is the safety and hope of the nation. 

It is said that Father Mills, on first seeing this landscape, 
was greatly affected with its beauty, and declared his wish to 
live and die here. The old lady is not a bride to-day ; she is 
past her prime, without doubt, but she is still beautiful, above 
all in the eyes of her children, and her face is full of re- 
collection of the fathers and of command that we should 
imitate them. They are imitable. The tall stores on Broad- 
way are as many stories below ground as above, but all those 
deep foundations are built stone by stone, layer hy layer, just 
like the superstructure. The granite of this New England 
underlies all the strata, Ijut more recent geology declares the 
granite a rock of gradual aqueous deposit like the strata above. 
The growth of the national foundations, in the last century, 
was stone by stone, just like the growth of the superstructure 
now ; and if it was more solid, so much the more shame to us. 



11 

Elias W. Hatch, M. D., who formerly practiced medicine in 
Torringford, said, in substance : 

Nothing can be more pleasant than the scenes and associa- 
tions of this day. The impressions made, and the friendships 
formed, at the period of Hfe when I was among you, are those 
we retain the longest. 

I see and recognize many of your faces, and I love to greet 
you with cheery words and a warm clasp of the hand ; but all 
around me, to-day, are faces present but not seen, and voices 
heard that are not of earth. The friends that I knew here, 
and that have passed away, and are now on the other side 
where the fields are ever green, and where there is no sin nor 
sorrow, seem to be present to me now, and I feel almost as if 
I were in the resurrection. I recall the cheerful faces of Col. 
Thaddeus Griswold, and Nathaniel Smith, of Jolm Gillett, 
with his quiet ways, and Mary Gillett, a woman of rare ex- 
cellence of character, of Griswold Woodward, General Uriel 
Tuttle, Cicero Hay den, and a host of others, whose names I 
cannot mention, all good men and true, and all worthy of 
being remembered with tlie warmest atfection. 

I do not love to linger too long on the memories of the past ; 
to-day is ours, and we must do the duties of to-day now, if 
ever. I am charmed with the evidences of affection shown in 
the wreaths which decorate this church. This is the labor of 
love through many weary hours in anticipation of our coming; 
and we should fail in our appreciation of what the ladies of 
this society have done, if we did not notice these beautiful 
adornings. 

The names of the former pastors of this church, displayed 
on these walls, are dear to us. They were good men. They 
had their day, and did their work faithfully, no doubt ; and 
now some of them have entered into rest, and others are here 
to enjoy the fruit of their labors in this kind and blessed re- 
membrance. 

But this is our day, and each day brings duties to all of us. 
Father Mills did his work well, and God requires all of us to 
do our work well ; none are exempt. I try to do mine, and 
should feel sad if I thought that the world would be no better 



12 

for my having lived in it. We are not left to do this work 
alone ; Christ offers us his aid. Let us all look to Him, and 
we shall have his help and love. 

Dea. Jabez H. Hayden said : 

Your president has introduced me as a Windsor man ; I 
cannot accept the distinction without some qualification. I 
was born there, baptized and received into fellowship in the 
Windsor church ; most of my life has been spent within her 
limits, and I never moved out ; but, in the creation of a new 
town I was left on the wrong side of the line, and became a 
citizen of Windsor Locks. But thanks to the Legislature of 
1854, they did not turn the old Hayden homestead out of 
town when they did me. To my childhood home in Windsor 
I still go up on each return of that day so fragrant with mem- 
ories, our annual thanksgiving ; and never but once, in a life 
of fifty-seven years, have I failed to eat my thanksgiving din- 
ner under the roof of the house built one hundred and thirty- 
two years ago, by the ancestor of the Torringford branch of 
the Hayden family. 

Your committee, in their invitation, intimated a wish that 
I should give some statistical information respecting the first 
settlers of this town who came from Windsor. Nearly thirty 
years ago I became somewhat enthusiastic in searching the 
records of Windsor, but of late I have found little leisure for 
further examination. 

I have some items respecting those who settled here pre- 
vious to 1757, which may interest their descendants of the 
present generation. One familiar with the early records of 
Torrington, and of Windsor, would probably find others, and 
a thorough search would richly repay those who would know 
more of the early history of their own families. 

In the list of original members of the church in Torrington, 
stands the name of Rev. Nathaniel Roberts, who, in the year 
1743, took to wife a daughter of Rev. Mr. Marsh, of Windsor. 

Nathaniel Barber and wife appear on that list. He was a 
great grandson of Thomas Barber, who came to Windsor with 
Sir Robert Saltonstall's men in 1635. 



13 

Jacob Strong and wife are in the same list. He descended 
from Elder John Strong, who came from England with Rev. 
Mr. Warham's church, and settled in Dorchester, Mass., in 
1630, and afterwards in Windsor. 

John Cook and wife are on the same list. He was made 
deacon in 1755. He l)ore a Windsor name, and I have little 
doubt that he was a descendant of Capt. Aaron Cook, a first 
settler at Dorchester and Windsor. 

Of the nineteen who petitioned for "liberty to liire preach- 
ing " here in 1757, a majority were from Windsor. How many 
were church members there I can not tell, as the record of 
members during Mr. Marsh's ministry immediately preceding 
this date is lost. Of these nineteen: 

Thomas Dibble and his brother, Abraham Dibble, were de- 
scendants of Thomas Dibble, who was one of the original mem- 
bers of the Windsor church, and came with it to Windsor. 

Jonathan Gillett: his ancestor, Jonathan, is entitled to a 
like honorable distinction. 

Nehemiah Gaylord: the third from Deacon William Gay- 
lord, who was also among the original members at Dorchester 
and Windsor. 

Benjamin Bissell : a descendant from John Bissell, a first 
settler of Windsor, who became a member of that church in 
1640. 

David Birge and his brother, John Bii-ge, were in the fourth 
generation from Daniel Bii»ge, a member of the church at 
Dorchester and Windsor. 

Shubael Griswold: a descendant of Mr. Edward Griswold, 
who came to Windsor with Rev. Mr. Huit in 1639. 

Ebenezer Winchell : descended from Nathaniel Winchell, an 
early settler in Windsor. 

Cliarles Mather was a grandson of Rev. Samuel Mather, 
who was settled over the Windsor church in 1685. 

There also appears among the nineteen the name of Jane 
Loomis, doubtless the widow or daughter of a Windsor man. 
Honorable mention is made of Lucy Loomis, the wife of Ne- 
hemiah Gaylord, one of these petitioners, that "she was a 
very pious woman ;" and who can doubt the worth of other 
3 



14 

heroic women who shared the joys and sorrows of the men in 
this then far-off county. 

I find on the land records of Windsor, other Windsor names 
previous to 1757, the date of this petition, of men who in dis- 
posing of their lands in Windsor, declare themselves residents 
of Torrington, Of these — 

Thomas Marshall: in the third generation from the brave 
Captain Samuel Marshall, who was an original settler in Wind- 
sor, and a member of the church, who fell at the head of his 
company in the storming of the fort of the Narragansetts in 
1675. 

Joseph Hoskins: descended from Goodman Hoskins, an 
original settler at Dorchester and Windsor. 

John Phelps: a son of William Phelps, and descendant of 
Mr. William Phelps, an original member of the church, and 
one of the first magistrates of the colony of Connecticut, a 
pillar in church and state. 

Joshua Phelps: also a descendant of William Phelps, the 
original member of the church. 

Joel Loomis, Ebenezcr Loomis, Ichabod Loomis, and Aaron 
Loomis: descendants of Joseph Loomis, one of the first settlers 
of Windsor, who was admitted to the church in 1640. He 
came from England with five sons, all of whom lived in Wind- 
sor, and had large families. The old homestead is still occu- 
pied by one of the descendants bearing the family name, and 
is the only instance in the town of uninterrupted possession 
from the Indian title. 

Joel Thrall and David Thrall: descendants of Timothy 
Thrall, who settled in Windsor before 16(50. 

Shubael Case: a descendant from John Case, an early settler 
in Windsor and Simsbury. 

William Grant: a descendnnt of the original Matthew Grant, 
who was one of that company of worthy Christian men and 
women — "The best wheat sifted out of three counties in Eng- 
land" — who, in 1630, stood forth in the New Hospital in Ply- 
mouth, England, and were joined in Christian fellowship in 
the organization of the present Congregational church in 
Windsor, our mother church, a church which has withstood 



15 

the assaults of Satan from without and from withui two hun 
dred and thirty-nine years, and is to-day the oldest orthodox 
Congregational church in America. 

At the organization of the church, Rev. John Warham was 
then and there installed pastor over them ; and from that hour 
Matthew Grant held up the hands of that pastor through a 
period as long as the children of Israel wandered in the wil- 
derness, and at the end of full forty years, with a tremulous 
hand he entered in the record of deaths the name of his be- 
loved Warham. 

To Matthew Grant we are indebted for more of our early 
history than to any other ten men of his generation. An ad- 
mirable type of the sturdy old Puritan, a man of sound judg- 
ment, of sterling honesty, of indomitable perseverance, his 
moral character above suspicion, modestly but firmly he stood 
by his principles, and for a full half century of the forming 
period of our history he fouffhf, it out on that line, a worthy 
progenitor of the man who to-day fills the highest office in 
our government — General U. S. Grant — in whose marked 
characteristics we but see the out-cropping of the blood of the 
sturdy old Matthew. 

From this list of early settlers of this town, whose antece- 
dents I have imperfectly sketched, the founders of this church 
were taken. They represent the names of nearly twenty 
Windsor families, and through their maternal ancestors and 
their wives they represent nearly or quite all the families who 
came from England with Mr. Warham and the mother church 
of Windsor. 

I appear among you to-day a representative of the youngest 
of the numerous churches, a majority of whose first members 
received their training in this mother church, and I greet this 
church, an elder sister, with Christian salutations and a hearty 
Godspeed. 

We have just celebrated our first quarter century. You, 
to-day, celebrate your full rounded century since your com- 
plete organization by the settlement of a pastor over you. 
May this be to you the beginning of centuries, and may we 
all, as churches, hold on our way rejoicing, till in the far-off 



16 

centuries these organized beginnings of mother and daughters 
shall seem to almost blend in one, in point of time, the be- 
ginning of an era of purer forms, of zealous labor, of liumble 
piety, and of great prosperity in the Church of Christ. 

On motion of Dr. Hatch, a vote of thanks to the ladies was 
passed for the decorations and the refreshments. 

Hudson Burr, Esq., of Bloomington, 111., spoke of the in- 
terest those who have been raised up here and are now living 
elsewhere still cherish in the place and people ; of the value 
of the training which the young get in this rural community 
and on these rugged farms ; and of the patriotism of the sol- 
diers from Torringford in the late conflict with the southern 
rebellion. 

Judson G. Lyman read certificates of the amounts of pro- 
visions possessed by families in this parish in April, 1779, 
which showed that their stores were very scanty ; and he re- 
marked that by these we might contrast their pecuniary con- 
dition and ability with our own ; that perhaps they were more 
liberal in the support of gospel institutions than we are ; and 
that God evidently regarded them with favor in permitting 
them to raise up those who have been useful to the world. 

Elijah Woodward read a letter from Charles Woodward, 
M. D., of Middletown, and Roderick Bissell, Esq., read a letter 
from Rev. Frederick Marsh of Winchester. 

Wilbur F. Birge recited the following poem, composed for 
the occasion by Mrs. Martha A. Lowrey: 

One hundred years ! O time, as we look back, 
How long the vista seems. One hundred years, 
And he, whose name we fain would honor now, 
Stood on this hill, strong in his youth and hope, 
A giant man in form and intellect, 
And large of heart as these then wooded hills. 
Great heart in practice and in fame, 
Like Mercy's friend in Bunyan's Pilgrim dream, 
Who with his sword, helmet, and shield, did walk 
Before, and safe conduct the children weak, 
And daughters faint and fearful in their hearts, 
Home to the " House called Beautiful," so he 
"My son," "my daughter," called each child. 
Here he stood to take the vows upon him 



17 



To be God's faithful servant to this church, 
In his strong love, his first and only love. 
And well he kept those vows, and God did smile. 
Behold how this small church kejit on its way 
Through the dark, bloody days of " Seventy-six," 
Through trials from within and out — hard soil — 
Hard toil — and yet the living fires kept bright. 
The youth were trained — I need not say how well. 
The pastor's son beloved, the second Mills, his name 
Is known throughout the Christian world ; 
His work has filled the courts of heaven with song. 
And other names have gone from off these hills 
Into the earth, like Noah from the ark, 
And builded altars otherwhere — names, too, 
■' That were not born to die." We celebrate 
The natal day of this church weak and small; 
But there were hearts so strong, so full of faith, 
Such Aarons and such Hurs for Moses' hands — 
They were a host — and they did give their time 
And treasures for to build the Lord a house. 
One fair young dame that day did dedicate 
Part of her marriage portion to the Lord — 
Good English crowns — which, cast into the fire 
Came out — behold, O ye who taste the wine, 
A silver sacramental cup, and graven 
With the initials of her name. They rest 
In yonder church-yard green, their souls with God. 
And now our Father, God, behold this vine; 
We droop, we languish — send us showers of grace; 
Drop down refreshing dews. We will arise 
And build. We will remember those past days 
Wherein our fathers prayed and struggled hard 
Such blessings to bequeath to us, their sons. 
Let us prove worthy of such sires, and strive 
With all our heart, and soul, and mind, and strength, 
God's spiritual temple here to raise. 

And now, O sons of noblest sires, 
Keep bright your home and temple fires. 
Be ever valiant for the right, 
Against all wrong and error fight. 
You have a goodly legacy, 
Your church, your schools, society ; 
Cherish and prize them more and more 
Till you shall pass to yonder shore. 



18 

Daughters, can one do less than bid 
You do the work your mothers did ? 
Adorned with heavenly graces three — 
Faith, Hope, and loveliest Charity — 
Be pure as polished corner-stones 
Till you shall join the shining ones, 
Children who bear the chastening rod, 
Children whose parents dwell with God. 

To mourn, to honor, and revere 
Good Father Mills, we've gathered here. 
This was his home. Ah ! look around. 
Tread lightly — this is hallowed ground. 

A resolution was then passed, of thanks to the guests and 
the speakers. The congregation joined the choir in "Auld 
Lang Syne," and the services of the day were closed with a 
benediction, pronounced by Rev. Hermann L. Vaill. 



HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 



I propose to speak of Torringford under the following heads 
— Settlement, Public Worship, Ministers, Houses of Worship, 
Education, and the Church. 

Settlement. 

The General Assembly of Connecticut, in 1686, gave the 
unoccupied lands in the northwestern part of the colony to 
the towns of Hartford and Windsor, in order to keep them 
from the control of Sir Edmund Andross. After the close of 
the contest with him, the Assembly attempted to take l)ack 
these lands, but were resisted by the people of Hartford and 
Windsor, even to the extent of riots, and the difficulty was 
settled by dividing the territory in dispute between the colony 
and the two towns. 'i In this division, what is now Torring- 
ton fell to Windsor, and what is now New Hartford fell to 
Hartford. New Hartford began to be settled in 1733, the 
settlers coming from Hartford ; the ecclesiastical society was 
incorporated in May, 1737 ; the town was incorporated in 
1738, and the church was organized the same year. There 
were then about thirty families in the town."^ Torrington 
was named by the Assembly in 1732 ; the survey was com- 
pleted in 1734 ; the first family came in 1737 ; in 1739 there 
were nine families and twenty-five settlers ; the town was in- 
corporated in 1740 ; and the church was organized in 1741. 
The settlers on the west side of the town came from Windsor 
and Durham ; the settlers on the east side of the town came 



» Judge Church's Address in Litchfield County Centennial Celebration, 

pp. 27, 28. 

'' State library, Ecclesiastical, Vol. VI. 



20 

from^Windsor.'^ It is probable that the east side began to be 
settled about 1740. 'J At that time this region was heavily 
timbered, and had the character and exposures of a frontier. 
Bears were not unknown, wolves were very troublesome,^ and 
there were a few Indians, against whom and the French, pro- 
tection was provided by fortified buildings, to which the set- 
tlers resorted in case of alarm. '" 

Public Worship. 

In those days there was a large pine swamp in what is now 
Wolcottville, and it was very difficult for the people on the 
east side of this swamp to attend worship at Torrington 

" State library, Ecclesiastical, Vol. VIII. Hollister, Vol. II., p. 21- 
Rev. Alexander Gillett's sketch of Torrington, in manuscript, in reply to 
a circular from Dr. Benjamin Trumbull, in Yale college library; also a 
i-eply to tlie same fi-om New Hartford. The proprietors of Windsor di- 
vided the Torrington land among themselves according to the list of each 
on the Windsor grand list, by three divisions voted in 1733, 1737 and 
1742. The last division was not completed till 1752. The rate of divis- 
ion for the first and second divisions was an acre for a pound on the list ; 
the rate for the third division was less than an acre. 

^ Zebulon Curtis and his wife Eunice Cole moved from Kensington to 
Torringford in Jan., 1743 ; he was made selectman that year, and his son 
Job Curtis was born July 5, 1 745. 

' In Dec, 1745, the town of Torrington A'oted a reward of twenty shil- 
lings for killing a wolf; and in 1752 they asked of the General Assembly 
relief concerning wolves. It may be added that it was estimated that five 
hundred sheep were killed by wolves in the town of Canaan in 1764. The 
next year, Sept. 23, thirty men surrounded a swamp in that town, and 
sent in men to start up the prey, and five full grown wolves were killed 
and piled in one heap. Hartford Courant for 1 765. Caleb Watson, born 
in 1753, is said to have killed a large bear in what is now Bakerville with 
no weapon but a sled stake. Genealogy of the Watson Family, p. 19. 

' In Oct., 1 744, the town of Torrington voted thirty-five pounds, six 
shillings and six pence as one-half the cost of building a fort. This fort, 
built of chc&tnut logs split and set in the ground, was several rods square, 
and stood near the first church. In New Hartford, the ])astor's house and 
the deacon's, and some others, were fortified by palisades. One of these 
buildings, erected and fortified in Bakerville by Cyprian Watson, has 
been moved, and now stands on the premises of Dea. William Watson and 
is used as a barn. Genealogy of the Watson Family, p. 1 2. There were 
eight or ten families of Indians in New Hartford when the settlement 
began. 



21 

church, which was several miles from them in the southwest 
part of the town.''' It was very soon felt desirable that the 
eastern settlers should have worship where they could be ac- 
commodated. By vote of the town, the pastor, Rev. Nathan- 
iel Roberts, I' preached on the east side of the swamp six Sab- 
liaths in 1754, six Sabbaths in 1755, and in 1756 " in propor- 
tion to their list." In September, 1756, the town voted, that 
'' tlie people living upon the east side " have the privilege of 
hiring some orthodox minister to preach the gospel among 
them four months in a year ; and that they be released from 
supporting Mr. Roberts during that time. 

In May, 1757, eighteen men and one woman living in the 
eastern part of the town, presented a petition to the Assem- 
bly*^ in which they say, that they are from five to seven miles 

" In the division of land, one square mile, embracing this swamp, which 
was infested by wild beasts and traversed at first only by hunters, was re- 
served and distributed among the settlers in lots of from one to eight rods 
wide and one-half mile long, on account of the value of the timber for 
building purposes. The soil in the valley was regarded as poor. The 
establishment of a mill, the clearing up of the swamp, the introduction of 
manufactm-es, and the building of the Naugatuck railroad, have so in- 
creased the importance of Wolcottville that it now pays about five-eighths 
of all the taxes gathered in the town. There are four churches in the 
village. The Congregational church was organized July 11, 1832, and 
has (1869) 161 members, a parsonage worth S3,000, and a house of wor- 
ship built of stone, costing $32,500, and dedicated Sept. 30, 1868. The 
Methodist church has (1869) 121 members, a parsonage worth $2,000, and 
a church built of brick and valued at $28,000. Trinity, Episcopal church, 
was organized in 1843, and has (1869) 80 members. There is also a 
Catholic church. All these churches and a large part of all the inhab- 
itants of Wolcottville are within the original limits of Torringford eccle- 
siastical society. 

i> Dr. McEwen's Discourse in Proceedings of Xorth and South Consocia- 
tions, &c., p. 79. 

" This petition, and the others spoken of in this section, may be found 
in the State library, in the volumes of original papers relating to eccle- 
siastical ail airs ; most of them in Vol. XII. The nineteen names above 
referred to stand in the following order : 

Abraham Dibell, Nehemiah Gaylord, Jane Lumis, 

Jonathan Kelsey, David Birge, - Benjamin BisseU, 

Jonathan Gillet, Ebenezer Winchell, John Birge, 

Joshua Austin, Charles Mather, Samuel Dorwin, 

Shubael Griswold, Aaron Yale, Thomas Dibell, 

Benjamin Matthews, John Burr, Ephraim Dorwin. 

Nathan Kelsey, 

4 



22 

from the place of worship, and are ol)Hged to attend church, 
some in New Hartford and some in Harwinton ; " that our 
number is so increased, being about twenty families, we think 
it our duty, (as it will be much for our ease,) to have preach- 
ing among ourselves. We therefore pray your honors would 
grant us the liberty to have preaching among ourselves such 
part of the year as we may be able.'' They also pray to be 
exempt from supporting worship at Torrington church, " since 
we cannot take the benefit thereof, and especially since the 
burden of supporting the present ministry will be easy with- 
out our help." This petition was granted. 

At the first recorded meeting of the inhal)itants of the east 
side of Torrington, held Oct. 27, 1757, a committee was ap- 
pointed to hire a minister, and it was voted to raise ten 
pounds to meet the expenses to be incurred. In April, 1759, 
the town voted their willingness that four tiers and a half of 
the lots in the eastern part of the town should be set off for 
a society, and in May, 1759, the people asked the General 
Assembly to incorporate a society to embrace four and a half 
tiers in Torrington and the western tier of lots in New Hart- 
ford ; or, if that may not be granted, that tiie people on said 
western tier may be exempt from supporting in New Hartford, 
that they may support in Torringford. They asked this " al- 
though at present," say they, " we are scarcely able to settle a 
minister or support the gospel, as we should be glad to do ; 
yet since our circumstances are very singular, and it would 
1)0 much for the encouragement of settling and improving the 
land among us, and so of increasing our ability to the above 
said purpose, if we were made a distinct society." This peti- 
tion was denied in both houses. 

In Oct., 1759, they presented a petition signed by twenty 
men, in which they state that there were then in East Tor- 
rington twenty-two families and one hundred and sixty-six 
persons ; that they were of small estate, and that their chil- 
dren were not large enough to afford much help, and they 



23 

ask that they may be exempt from " public cliarges "<^ in order 
that they may maintain worship among themselves. This 
petition was denied by both houses. In May, 1760, nineteen 
men of East Torrington petitioned to be exempt from paying 
public taxes, that they may be able to support the gospel 
among them, since they can not do both. The petition covers 
two foolscap pages and is urgent and eloquent. They plead 
that if they go aln-oad to attend public worship, they have to 
start so early, and do so much work in order to it, that it 
does not comport with the right keeping of the day. They 
speak of " being but twenty-one families, and most of us but 
new beginners on new rough farms." They mention the ex- 
pense " for making public highways fit for travel," and the 
" great cost we are and must be at for schooling our children — 
we being blessed with large families of small children. "^ 
They plead for their young and numerous children who can 
not be taken out of the place to meeting, and for the aged 
people, " who think it hard to be denied the means of grace 
now in the last stages of their lives." This petition was 
granted during the pleasure of the Assembly. 

In Dec, 1761, the town of New Hartford " voted our con- 
sent, or to manifest our minds that we are willing, to have 
four miles of the south end of the west tier of lots in New 
Hartford annexed, or set off, to the east part or society of 
Torrington, to pay their ministerial charge there." 

In May, 1762, the Assembly were petitioned to incorporate 
the proposed society. The lower house granted the petition, 
but the upper house refused it ; a committee of conference 
was apj)ointed by the two houses, but the upper house would 
not yield, and the petition was denied. They petitioned again 
in October, (1762 probably,) that the proposed society be in- 



^ The phrases " public charges," " public taxes," " country rates," meant 
taxes for the support of the colony in distinction from taxes for the ex- 
penses of the town or of the ecclesiastical society, and answered substan- 
tially to our jjresent State tax. 

" It will be noticed that, as appears in the petition of Oct., 1759, twenty- 
two families embraced one hundred and sixty-six jiersons, or an average 
of nearly eight for each family. Families now average about five persons 
each. 



24 

corporated, and that the New Hartford part be exempt from 
country rates, and from ministerial and school charges in 
New Hartford, in order that the proposed society may build a 
house of worship and settle a minister. This petition failed. 
In Dec, 1762, they voted to petition again, and it appears 
that that effort also was unsuccessful ; for in Sept., 1763, they 
voted to renew their petition for incorporation. This petition 
was granted, and the society was incorporated in October, 
1763. 

The act of incorporation is as follows : 
" Upon the memorial of the inhabitants of the east part of 
the township of Torrington, in the county of Litchfield, pray- 
ing to be made a distinct ecclesiastical society, with all the 
powers and privileges of other societies in this colony ; and 
also that the west tier of lots in the township of New Hart- 
ford, beginning at the south bounds of said New Hartford, 
and to extend north four miles, be annexed to said society ; 
and also that the said inhabitants now living, or that shall 
hereafter live, on said west tier, be exempted from paying 
country rates, &c., as per memorial on file — 

Resolved by this Assembly, That the inhabitants living on 
the east part of the township of said Torrington, viz : to be- 
gin at the east bounds of said Torrington, and to extend west 
four tier and a half of lots ; and also that the west tier of 
lots in the township of New Hartford, from the south bound- 
ary of said New Hartford, to extend north four miles, be, and 
they are hereby made and constituted, one distinct ecclesi- 
astical society, with all the privileges and powers that other 
ecclesiastical societies in this colony are vested with, and 
shall be known and called by the name of Torringford ; and 
also that the inhabitants now living, or that shall hereafter 
live, on said west tier of lots in said New Hartford, shall be 
exempted from paying colony taxes during the pleasure of 
this Assembly. "f 

It may be noted here, that in May, 1786, the Assembly on 
petition added one-half of the second tier of lots in New 

f This act was passed at New Haven, and may be found in the office of 
the Secretary of State, at Hartford. 



25 

Hartford. s As thus constituted, the Torrington side of the 
society is about two and one-quarter miles wide and six miles 
long, and the New Hartford side one and one-eighth miles 
wide and four miles long, the whole embracing about seven- 
teen square miles. 

The foregoing statements show that the people valued the 
public worshi}) of God, and made persevering endeavors to 
secure and maintain it. 

Ministers. 

As we have seen, Rev. Nathaniel Roberts preached here 
several Sabbaths in each of the years 1754, 1755 and 1756 ; 
and it is probable that preaching was maintained with all 
practicable regularity from that time until the settlement of 
a pastor ; but the preachers were, in some cases, young men 
whose stay was short, and whose names do not appear on the 
records. 

In March, 1761, the inhabitants voted to raise means to 
pay "Mr. Heaton" for preaching. This was probably Rev. 
Stephen Heaton, then residing in Goshen, where he had been 
pastor from Nov., 1740 to May, 1753, and where he remained 
until his death in 1788. In March, 1763, they voted to em- 
ploy "• Mr. Gould." This was, perhaps, Rev. Ebenezer Gould, 
pastor at Middlefield from 1747 to 1756. In September, 
1764, they voted to continue to employ "Mr. Ebenezer 
Davenport." In June, 1765, they gave him a probationary 
call, and in July following, a call to settle, which he declined. 
In May, 1766, they made further attempts to secure his ser- 
vices, and in August, 1766, renewed tJieir call, otfering him 
a larger settlement and salary. He did not accept their pro- 
posals. In 1767, he was settled over the first church in 
Greenwich, where, after a pastorate of six years, he died in 
1773. In March, 1768, they voted to apply to the Associa- 
tion of the county^ to grant them some preaching for the 
year. In September, 1768, they voted to apply to " Mr. Jud- 

e State library. Ecclesiastical, Vol. XV. 

" There was only one Association in the county from 1752 until 1791. 



26 

son" and " Mr. Treadway " as candidates, but it does not ap- 
pear that either of these men preached here. 

The next candidate on the records was Mr. Mills. Samuel 
John Mills, whose father, John Mills, came from Windsor, 
was born in Kent, May 16, 1743,^ was graduated at Yale 
college in 1764, studied theology with his pastor, Rev. Joel 
Bordwell, and was licensed by the Association of Litchfield 
county, at Kent, February 7, 1766. He was examined by 
the Association September 20, 1768, and commended as a 
suitable person to be settled over the church in Torringford, 
and probably began to preach here about that time. In Feb- 
ruary, 1769, the people gave him a prol)ationary call, and in 
March, a call to settle. They offered him a settlement of two 
hundred pounds, to be paid in three years in annual install- 
ments, a salary of fifty-five pounds, to be increased five 
pounds yearly until it reached seventy pounds, to be paid 
one-half in money and the other half in wheat, rye, and In- 
dian corn at the market price, and his fire-wood. Mr. Mills 
having been examined Ijy the Association, accepted the call, 
and the society appointed Lieut. Shubael Griswold, Elijah 
Gaylord, Jabez Gillett, and John Strong " tavern-keepers for 
the ordination." The Consociation of Litchfield county met 
at the house of Mr. Nehemiah Gaylord on Tuesday, June 27, 
and examined the candidate, and on Wednesday, June 28, 
1769, he was ordained to the work of the pastorate among 
this people. ° 

The salary continued without change until Mr. Mills asked 
a colleague in 1821, except that in 1780 and 1781, when con- 
siderable dissatisfaction prevailed, it was fifty pounds, and 
in 1796 he had twenty-three pounds additional, on account 
of the high prices of provisions. His allowance for fuel 
ranged from forty to fifty cords of good wood yearly, to be 

" His mother, Jane Lewis Mills, came from Stratford. She married 
Rev. Philemon Eobbins, of Branlord, Oct. 21, 1778, and died July 30, 
1 798, aged 86. 

'^ There were present eleven ministers and thirteen delegates. Eev. 
Jonathan Lee was Moderator, and Eev. Daniel Farrand was Scribe. The 
examination was unanimously sustained, and the services of the ordina- 



27 

delivei'cd at his door, at prices ranging from eighty-three 
cents to one dollar and fifty cents a cord, until December, 
1817, when it was voted to purchase a stove for him ; after 
which he was supplied with from twenty to twenty-five cords 
of wood. In June, 1821, when making arrangements for a 
colleague, the society voted Mr. Mills -$200, to be paid him at 
one time, or in eight annual payments of $25 ; or $25 yearly 
during his life, as he might prefer. 

He died May 11, 1883, aged 90, having outlived all his col- 
lege classmates, and having accomplislied a pastorate of sixty- 
four years — the longest term of ministerial service ever at- 
tained in Litchfield county. In person, he was tall and 
strongly built. His bearing was dignified, and on horseback 
his appearance was commanding. His eyes were large and 
expressive, and his voice was rich and full. His prominent 
natural traits were a childlike simplicity, drollness, impul- 
siveness, tenderness, and a large-hearted benevolence. He 
was sound in the doctrines and devoted to his flock. As a 
speaker, he was at times memorably eloquent, and swayed 

tion, which took place in the church, then in an unfinished state, were 
assigned as follows : The first prayer, Rev. Sylvanus Osborn,^ of Warren ; 
the sermon, Rev. Joel Bordwell, of Kent"; to be pro-locutor, Rev. Daniel 
Farrand,^ of Canaan ; the ordaining prayer, Rev. Abel Newell,"* of Go- 
shen ; the charge to the pastor, Rev. Jonathan Lee,^ of Salisbury ; the 
right hand of fellowship, Rev. Hezekiah Gold,'' of Cornwall ; the conclud- 
ing prayer, Rev. Judah Champion,' of Litchfield. 

This is the first mention of Torringford on the records of the Conso- 
ciation. The churches in the county were embraced in one Consociation 
from July 7, 1752 until September, 1791, when, by an amicable separa- 
tion, the North and South Consociations were organized. 

1 Sprague, I., 690. - Sprague, I., 672. 

3 Sprague, I., 490; Dr. ]McE wen's Discourse in Proceedings of Xorth and South 
Consociations, Sec, pp. 88 — 90. 

* Rev. Abel Newell, was born in Farmington, Conn., in 1730; was gi-aduated at 
Yale college in 1751; was pastor iu Goshen, August 26, 1755 — January 30, 1781; died 
in 1813, aged 83. Allen; Goshen Church Manual. 

5 Sprague, II., 2S8. 

6 Rev. Hezekiah Gold, son of Rev. Hezekiah Gold, of Stratford, was born in Strat- 
ford; was graduated at Yale college in 1751; was licensed by Fairfield East Asso- 
ciatioujMav 16, 1753; was pastor at Cornwall, August 27, 1755— March 6, 1786; died 
May 31, 1790, aged 59. Allen. 

'' Sprague, I., 512; McEwen's Discourse in Proceedings, Ike, p. 71. 



28 

his hearers powerfully hj the wit or the pathos of his dis- 
course. He had a glowing interest in the evangelizing enter- 
prises which sprung up about the opening of the present cent- 
ury, and was one of the pioneers in the missionary work in 
Vermont. He enjoyed the confidence and respect of his 
In-ethren, and was one of the editors of the Connecticut 
Evangelical Magazine. ^ " Father Mills of Torringford !" his 
name confers honor on the place where he served so long and 
so faithfully in the gospel ; and a grateful people may well 
celebrate the centennial of his settlement. 

The colleague of Mr. Mills, Rev. Epaphras Goodman, was 
born in West Hartford, January 22, 1790 ; was graduated 
at Dartmouth college in 1816 ; studied theology with his 
pastor, Hev. Nathan Perkins, D.D.,e and also in Yale theo- 
logical seminary ; was licensed by Hartford North Associa- 
tion June 6, 1820 ; went south as a home missionary, and 
was ordained as an evangelist January 3, 1821, in the Circu- 
lar church in Charleston. He was installed here March 6, 
1822,'' and was dismissed January 12, 1836. He was in- 

'• He published a sermon preached at Litchfield, at a meeting of signers, 
in 1775 ; and two sermons on the religious sentiments of Christ, in a vol- 
ume entitled, " Sermons Collected," in 1797. 

' Sprague, II., 1. 

f At the settlement of Mr. Goodman and his successors, the order of 
services Avas as follows : 

At Mr. Goodman's installation : Introductory services, by Rev. Jere- 
miah Hallock ; sermon by Rev. Nathan Perkins, D.D. ; installing prayer 
by Rev. Alexander Gillett ; charge to the pastor by Rev. Samuel J. Mills ; 
right hand of fellowship by Rev. Cyrus Yale ; charge to the people by 
Rev. Charles Prentice. 

At Mr. Vaill's installation : Introductory services by Rev. Frederick 
Marsh ; sermon by Rev. William W. Andrews ; installing prayer by Rev, 
James Beach ; charge to the pastor by Rev. Jairus Burt ; right hand by 
Rev. Stephen Hubbell ; address to the people by Rev. Grant Powers ; 
concluding prayer by Rev. Willis Lord. 

At Mr. Emerson's installation : Introductory services by Rev. William 
W. Andrews ; sermon by Rev. Adam Reid ; installing prayer by Rev. 
James Beach ; charge to the pastor by Rev. John Woodbridge, D.D. ; 
right hand by Rev. Samuel Day ; address to the people by Rev. Cyrus 
Yale. 

At Mr. Moore's ordination : Introductory services by Rev. James H. 



29 

stalled over the first church in Dracut, Mass., June 15, 1836 
and was dismissed June 7, 1838. He is remembered tliere as 
an earnest, faithful, and beloved pastor. For the next year, 
he resided at Andover, Mass., and was employed as an agent 
of the American Protestant Society. In 1840, he went to 
Cincinnati, bought the " Watchman of the Valley," and pub- 
lished and edited it until 1850. About 1847, he assisted in 
forming the first Congregational Association in southwestern 
Ohio. Very soon after, he assisted in forming the " Western 
Reform Book and Tract Society." In 1851, he went to 
Chicago, and for one year had the editorial charge of the 
"Christian Era," and during most of that year, supplied the 
pulpit of the first Congregational church. For the next 
two or three years, he was the western Secretary of the Amer- 
ican Missionary Association, and disbursed its home mission- 
ary funds. He subsequently edited, for a short time, the 
" Free West," a weekly anti-slavery paper, published in that 
city. He died at Chicago, June 12, 1862, aged 72. 

During his pastorate here, he did much to raise the standard 

Dill ; sermon by Rev. Walter Clarke ; ordaining prayer by Rev. James 
Beach ; charge to the pastor by Rev. Charles Bentley ; right hand by Rev. 
Samuel T. Seelye ; address to the people by Rev. Joseph Eldridge. 

At Mr. Fenn's ordination : Introductory services by Rev. Luther H. 
Barber ; sermon by Rev. Ephraim Lyman ; ordaining prayer by Rev. 
Leonard E. Lathrop, D.D. ; charge to the pastor by Rev. Franklin A. 
Spencer ; right hand by Rev. Lavalette Perrin ; address to the people by 
Rev. William H. Moore. 

At Mr. Newman's ordination : Introductory by Rev. Robert D. Gard- 
ner ; sermon by Rev. Franklin A. Spencer ; ordaining prayer by Rev. 
Hermann L. Vaill ; charge to the pastor by Rev. William B. Clarke ; 
right hand by Rev. Luther H. Barber ; address to the people by Rev. 
Joseph Eldridge, D.D. 

At Mr. Noble's installation : Introductory by Rev. Henry M. Grant ; 
sermon by Rev. Joseph Eldridge, D.D. ; installing prayer by Rev. D. D. 
T. McLaughlin ; charge to the pastor by Rev. Edwin Hall, Jr. ; right 
hand by Rev. William T. Doubled ay ; address to the people by Rev. 
Stephen Fenn. 

At Mr. Gaylord's ordination : Introductory by Rev. AVilliam T. Double- 
day ; sermon by Rev. Joel Grant ; ordaining prayer by Rev. Joseph El- 
dridge, D.D. ; charge by Rev. George B. Newcomb ; right hand by Rev. 
Stephen Fenn. 



30 

of education, was forward in the reformatory movements of 
the day, cooperated effectively with his ministerial brethren 
for the prosperity of religion in the county, and had the sat- 
isfaction of seeing large numbers added to this church. He 
never lost his interest in this people, and his visits were al- 
ways welcome and wholesome ; and, as 1 knew him in con- 
nection with these occasional returns, he was a man eminently 
unselfish, meek, and well ripened in character for a better 
world. 

The other ministers of this church are all living, and their 
names and periods of service may be stated as follows : 

Rev. Hermann L. A^aill was installed July 5, 1837 and dis- 
missed September 29, 1839. 

Rev. Brown Emerson was installed July 21, 1841 and dis- 
missed September 24, 1844. 

Rev. John D. Baldwin supplied for a short period, and re- 
ceived a call February 28, 1846, which he declined. 

Rev. William H. Moore was ordained as pastor September 
30, 1846 and dismissed September 26, 1854. 

Rev. Stephen Fenn was ordained as pastor November 16, 
1854 and dismissed September 4, 1857. 

Rev. Charles Newman was ordained as pastor May 18, 
1858 and dismissed October 28, 1862. 

Rev. Spencer 0. Dyer ministered one year from November, 
1862 to November, 1863. 

Rev. Franklin Noble was installed June 7, 1865 and dis- 
missed November 30, 1866. 

Rev. Joseph F. Gaylord ministered for two years, from 
January, 1867 to January, 1869. He was a licentiate when 
he began his labors here, but was ordained to the work of the 
ministry, without pastoral charge, Nov. 7, 1867. s 

8 Mr. Dana Mills Walcott, son of Jonathan and Henrietta Mills Walcott, 
and great-grandson of Father Mills, was engaged Oct. 17, 1869, to supply 
the pulpit for one year. He was born at Natick, Mass., July 9, 1840 ; was 
in the senior class at Williams college in 1866 ; studied theology in the 
Hartford seminary in 1867 ; and was licensed Sept. 7, 1869, in Massachu- 
setts, by Middlesex Union Association. 



31 



Houses of Worship. 

For nearly fourteen years, tlie settlers worshiped in some 
private dwelling. In March, 1763, it was voted, " that Nehe- 
miah Gaylord shall have twelve pence a Sabbath for the use 
of his house to meet in. "a In Dec, 1763, they voted to make 
some preparations for building a sanctuary; and to raise 
thirty pounds, to be paid in boards and shingles, within a 
year, for this purpose. In Dec, 1764, they voted that the 
house be forty-eight feet by thirty-eight, and appointed a com- 
mittee to pitch a stake for a location which would accommo- 
date the whole society.i^ In June, 1766, they voted to pro- 
ceed to build a place for worship. In April, 1768, they agreed 
to raise the house as they could conveniently. In Sept., 1768, 
they voted that the annual meeting of the society be held in 
the church. Li Oct., 1768, they presented a petition to the 
General Assembly, showing that the territory of the society 
embraces about ten thousand acres of land, of w^hich about 
seven thousand belongs to non-residents; that they have 
erected a church, which is covered, has doors, a floor, con- 
venient benches, and glass windows for the lower story ; that 
they wish to settle a minister as soon as they can ; and that 
the list of the present inhabitants is only two thousand and 
eight hundred pounds, and they pray that the Assembly would 
grant a tax of three pence an acre for three years on all the 
land in the society,— to purchase a settlement for the first 
settling minister, and, if any surplus remain, toward complet- 
ing the church. A tax of two pence an acre for three years 
was granted. Tlie parish then contained forty-eight families 
and about three hundred and fifty persons. This house stood 
on the highway on the west side of the road nearly opposite 



" This house stands ou the west side of the street, the first one south of the 
site of the first church, and bears on the latch of the front door the initials 
" N. G." and the date "1761." 

•' It is related, that while the question where the stake should be pitched 
for the location of the church was pending, one of the brethren, at a prayer 
meeting, referring to the subject in his prayer said, •' O Lord, Thou know- 
est 1 think it ought to be put in Jabez Gillett's turnip patch." 



32 

the house now occupied by Mr. Tjucius Burr, and the outlines 
of the foundation can still be seen. 

In Dec, 1773, they voted Jabez Gillett ten shillings for the 
ensuing year for sweeping the church and keeping it locked. 
In Dec, 1783, a committee was appointed to consider and de- 
cide whether the church stands in the right place; and, if it 
does not, to pitch a stake where it ought to stand. At the 
same meeting, it was voted to raise means to " procure ma- 
terials to do off the inside of the meeting house." In April, 

1784, the society's committee were instructed not to call out 
the committee concerning the location of the house until fur- 
ther notice ; and in Dec, 1784, they rescinded the vote about 
doing off the inside, and appointed another committee to see 
where the house should stand. « In Jan., 1785, a tax was 
laid, payable by the first of June, to finish the house. In July, 

1785, the committee of the society were directed to "proceed 
to finish the joiner work, the inside of the meeting house, 
and shingle the roof, and, if there be money voted sufficient, 
plaster the inside." In Sept., 1785, it was voted not to plas- 
ter that fall ; and also, " that the meeting house committee 
provide materials for plastering the meeting house, to be 
ready against next spring, if there be money voted sufficient." 
In August, 1787, they "voted to have the meeting house 
plastered, by the great, or job, take it as it now stands, and 
plaster it off complete by the first day of November next ; — to 
be set up at vendue and struck off to him that shall bid the 
lowest." In March, 1788, a committee was appointed to set- 
tle with David Soper for plastering the church. In Dec, 
1788, a seating committee was appointed, and this appoint- 
ment was made annually while they continued to worship in 
that house. In Dec, 1790, a committee was appointed to 
settle the matter respecting the plastering of the church. The 
house was painted in 1794. It liad neither bell nor steeple. 

' At the time the church was erected, there was no road through the 
north part of the parish ; what is now Greenwood street was a heavy forest, 
and it was not sujjposed that that section would ever bear an important 
part of the expense of supporting the gospeh It was the settlement of 
that region and the thrift of the settlers that occasioned the agitation as 
to where the church ought to stand. 



8S 

Tn Oct., 1799, they voted sixty dollars to under-pin the house, 
•'provided that subscriptions can be procured sufficient to 
finish the under-pinning and step-stones." In Dec, 1817, a 
two and a half cent tax was laid to raise about three hundred 
and fifty dollars, to repair and paint the church. In Dec, 
1818, it was voted that the committee supjjly the stove with 
wood the ensuing year at the expense of the society ; and this 
probably marks the time when they began to warm the church. 
In Dec, 1820, it was voted to shingle the house the next 
season. In Dec, 1826, the committee of the society were 
directed to inquire into the conduct of young people who cut 
and damage the pews, and to prosecute for such offenses. In 
Dec, 1828, liberty was given to alter the front gallery for the 
singers. In Dec, 1835, the thanks of the society were voted 
unanimously to Uriel Tuttle for the use of his organ for the 
time past.'i Thanl^were also voted ''to Charles B. Smith 
and Frederick Phelps, for their services — playing on the organ 
previous to this time, and for their future services for the 
same." 

Dec 14, 1835, the society voted to build a new house of 
worship, and appointed a committee to locate it. The com- 
mittee reported, Dec 21, that they could not agree on a loca- 
tion, and were discharged ; the vote to build was rescinded ; 
and it was voted to repair the old house, and a committee was 
appointed to consider the subject and report. In Jan., 1836, 
this committee reported that the old house could be moved, 
repaired, steepled, and done off in modern style, for $1,500. 
The report was laid on the table. Jan. 28, 1836, a commit- 
tee was appointed to say where the house — old or new — should 
stand. They selected a spot north of the barn of Griswold 
Woodward, Esq., which was not accepted by the society. An- 
other committee, appointed in March, 1836, reported the same 
month that they could not agree on a location. Another 
committee, appointed in Dec, 1836, located it in what is now 
the parsonage garden. This spot was rejected. In April, 1837, 
it was decided to build on a spot, offered for that purpose, by 

^ Gen. Uriel Tuttle placed the organ in the church about 1831. 



34 

Col. Thaddeus Griswold. The house was built in 1838 and 
the early part of 1889, and the society voted that it be used 
for public worship after the third Sunday in May.« In June, 
1889, the committee were directed to sell the old house, and 
it was soon after talven down. In March, 1844, the tower of 
the present house was blown down and much damage was 
done ; but another tower was erected the same year. 

It required an effort of twenty -five years, with the aid of 
the General Assembly, to erect and complete the first house 
of worship. That house was in use seventy-one years. It 
required an effort of three and a half years to locate and finish 
the present house, which has now been in use thirty years. 

Education. 
In 1752, the proprietors of Torrington voted to sequester 
two hundred and twenty acres, not far from the center of 
the town, for nine hundred and ninety-nine years for the use 
of schooling ; and the same year provision was made in town 
meeting for collecting the school money, " on the other side 
of the swamp," and laying it out there for a school. In Dec, 

1761, the east side people voted- to raise " a penny half-penny 
upon the pound upon the present list for to hire schooling ;" 
and this is their first recorded action on education. In Dec, 

1762, they voted that the north end of the society shall have 
schooling a fortnight for their money. After the formation of 
an ecclesiastical society, school matters were managed by it 
for nearly a generation, and until a school society was organ- 
ized. In Nov., 1764, the ecclesiastical society voted to have 
two months of schooling that winter. In Dec, 1771, they 
voted to have two school districts, to be separated by the 
" Long Crossway ;" and to have a winter and summer school. 
In Oct., 1772, it was voted to have three districts, north, mid- 
dle, and east hollow ; and that the children that go to a man's 
school shall not go to a woman's school. In Dec, 1774, they 
voted to build a school-house in the middle district, near Capt. 
Bissell's house, or horse house, and appointed " Capt, Strong, 



■ The new cliurcli cost, including foundation and bell, about S2,500. 



85 

Capt. Bissell, Lieut. Griswold and Sargeant Eben Winchell," 
to build it. In Dec, 1777, four school districts were defined ; 
middle, north, east, and west. 

In 1787, Daniel Grant, of Windsor, died and left a legacy 
of $1,500, the interest of which was to be expended for school- 
ing in Torrington. The Torrington side of Torringford shares 
in the avails of this legacy, as well as in the benefits of the 
school land set apart in 1752. In May, 1790, a committee 
was appointed to receive the school money from the State 
treasury and distribute it. This is the first mention of any 
State money for education. The last action of the ecclesias- 
tical society in regard to schools was in Oct., 1794. The first 
recorded meeting of Torringford school society was held in 
Oct., 1795. Wolcottville became a school district as early as 
1821, and a public school began to be kept in Burrville about 
1852. 

Select schools have often been held, and Mr. Goodman 
taught in this way with great advantage to the community. 
The academy in which he taught was erected in 1823, and 
stood a few rods north of the old church on the other side of 
tlie street. After being unoccupied for several years, it was 
moved and rebuilt in 1849, as an academy and conference 
house, and stands opposite the church. The intelligence of 
the people, and their appreciation of education may be shown 
not only by the fact that they have furnished a large number 
of competent teachers,'! male and female, of public and private 
schools, but also by the number of those who have obtained a 
liberal education, or engaged in professional pursuits. Tor- 
ringford has raised up, in addition to several successful busi- 
ness men, twelve college graduates, five lawyers, ten minis- 
ters, eight wives of ministers, and twenty-five physicians ; and 
some of these educated men have not only been eminent in 
their own profession, but have filled prominent civil, political, 
and judicial stations. 

» At the time Mr. Nathaniel Gaylord kept what was termed a grammar 
school, for a number of successive winters, about 1806-1808, school 
keeping became a passion, and often over twenty went out to teach in this 
and adjoining towns ; and Torringford school-masters enjoyed a high repu- 
tation as teachers in all that section. Dr. Charles Woodward's letter. 



86 



The Church. 

As we have already seen, public worship began here in 1754, 
the ecclesiastical society was formed in 1763, and a pastor 
was settled in 1769 ; but after carefully examining the rec- 
ords of the town, of the ecclesiastical society, of the Associa- 
tion, and of the Consociation, the petitions to the General 
Assembly, the newspapers of that period, and various other 
sources of information, I have not found a word by which to 
determine when the church was formed. ^ It is certainly re- 
markable that the records of the ecclesiastical society make 
no mention of the church for more than seventy years, nor 
until 1837. 

We know, however, that there was a church here in 1768 ; 
for the records of the Association of the county of Litchfield, 
imder date of Sept. 20, 1768, contain the following entry : 
" Mr. Samuel John Mills offered himself to examination in 
order to his Ijeing approved of for ordination in the work of 
the gospel ministry over the church and people in Torring- 
ford; was examined and approved, and recommended to them 
as a meet person qualified to settle with them in that work." 
President Stiles, in his journal, enumerates Torringford among 
the parishes which were vacant in 1768, and says that a 
church was gathered there a1)0ut 1760-1762 ; and this is the 
nearest approach we are able to make to the date of its forma- 
tion. It is plain, then, that the church had been in exist- 
ence several years when the first pastor was settled. 

The house of Mr. Mills was burned in Dec, 1823; and all 
his library and papers, including the records of the church, 
were destroyed. He was then past eighty years of age, and 
already so broken in mind that it was impossible for him to 
reproduce the history of the church, and of his ministry. ^^ 

" Jonatlian Kelsey, who was a leading man among the early settlers, is 
called " deacon " in the records of the meeting of the inhabitants of the 
east side of Torrington, held Oct. 27, 175 7 ; but this does not show that a 
church had already been formed there. 

^ The origin of the Sundcvj school. The Sabbath school was organized 
at the house of Mr. Mills sometime in the summer of 1816. The children 



37 

It is a matter of regret that Mr. Goodman left no records of 
his pastorate. The records begin with the ministry of Mr. 
Yaill, in 1837. He made commendable efforts to gather up 
items of interest, to enroll the members then living, and to 
secure the proper keeping of records in the future. The 
records of the church cover only the last thirty-two years, but 
let us advert— with some freedom in selecting — ^to things 
worthy of note, gathered from nearly the whole period of its 
history. 

It is probable that when the church was formed, the parish 
contained about thirty families, and a population of about two 
hundred and twenty-five. These families were so anxious to 
have religious privileges, and were so limited in property, 
that, as we have seen, the General Assembly released them 
from paying taxes to the treasury of the colony in order to 
encourage them to support the institutions of the gospel, and 
allowed them to collect more than two-thirds of the money 
for a settlement for the first pastor from the non-resident pro- 
prietors of the land in the parish. 

The society has never been large nor very strong. It has 
never received home missionary aid, and is probably, on the 
whole, about as well able to support the gospel as it has ever 
been. The yearly compensation of Mr. Mills was about $300. 
The salary has been raised several times, and was in 1822, 
i; in 1837, $550; in 1846, $600; in 1854, $700; in 1865, 



of the parish were invited to go to his house at the close of the morning 
service, and a large number went. After we were arranged in order by 
Mrs. Jeremiah Mills, we were addressed by Father Mills in a very affec- 
tionate manner, as the children of his parish. Some of the smaller children 
were to receive a penny for learning a certain number of verses of Scrip- 
ture, or of hymns. Soon after the first tracts, from the Tract Society, 
were ordered and read, and a page of tract-reading was given for each 
verse recited. Father Mills took a very deep interest in the school, and 
often addressed the children in it. Letter of Mr. Lucius Bradley, who 
was a child in the school at the time of its organization. 

The school has been well conducted ; has a well selected library ; and 
has contributed much to the religious culture of the community. For sev- 
eral seasons a branch school has been held at Burrville. The enrollment 
in the two schools, in 1869, amounted to 140. 

6 



38 

; and in 1866, $900. In 1844, the society purcliased, for 
a parsonage, the house built for Mr. Mills,'' and the use of 
that is counted |100 in the salary. 

The annual expenses of the society were met, aside from 
the avails of a small fund, by a tax until 1839; from 1839 to 
1845, they were met by a tax and the renting of the slips ; and 
since 1845, they have been met by the renting of the slips, 
supplemented by subscriptions when necessary. It has been 
the custom of the people to make offerings for the support 
and comfort of the minister in addition to the stipulated sal- 
ary, and these have proved considerable in value, and have 
been welcomed as tokens of the good will of the donors. 

Until the adoption of the new constitution of the state in 
1818, every tax-payer was legally bound to support the eccle- 
siastical society within whose bounds he lived, unless by cer- 
tificate he declared himself of another religious persuasion. 
The records show that dissenters living within this parish were, 
in general, fairly treated. Thus in December, 1777, fourteen 
persons, and in December, 1778, nineteen persons, were dis- 
charged from paying rates to Mr. Mills for the ensuing year. 
In 1781, the society voted to release any who certify the clerk 
" That they think it not their duty to hire and pay Mr. Mills 
for preaching the present year;" and a similar vote was passed 
for the next year. These persons, numbering probably nearly 
one-third of the society, were disturbed, it is said, by the 
hearty Calvinism of their pastor, and the action of the society 
was designed to afford them relief, and to prevent them from 
withdrawing by certificate. But the remedy proved insuffi- 
cient, and the records give the names of thirty persons who, 
between November, 1788 and the adoption of the new consti- 
tution in 1818, left the society, at the rate of one a year, and 
declared themselves of some other religious belief. Of these, 
one professed himself a strict Congregationalist ; three, Meth- 
odists; nine, Episcopalians; and seventeen. Baptists. 

Under our present constitution, no tax-payer is legally bound 
to support religion unless he joins some religious society; and 

' This house was built by the people at an expense of about $1,200, and 
given to Mr. Mills. 



39 

every member of such a society is legally released from support- 
ing it by simply certifying his withdrawal from it. In this 
way, in the first nine years, 1818-1827, twenty-eight persons 
withdrew from this ecclesiastical society, or an average of 
three each year. The present mode of supporting religion 
takes little account of the territorial limits of an ecclesiastical 
society, and makes every thing depend on the voluntary action 
of the people. It conduces to peace, and under it the gospel 
has been as well sustained and as prosperous, as under the 
former method. 

This church was planted in the midst of dying people. 
Sixty deaths had occurred in Torringford before 1777. In 
December, 1788, the committee of the ecclesiastical society 
were authorized to take a lease of the burying-ground from 
Captain Gaylord, and to get it well fenced the next spring, 
" if that were not done by the people by spells." In 1812, the 
society voted that the burying-ground be enlarged by buying 
land on the east and west sides of it. In the period of sev- 
enty-five years, from April, 1777 to 1851 included, six hun- 
dred and fifty-two persons died, or an average of nine a 
year, and the ages of four hundred and three of these are re- 
corded. Only one person reached one hundred years, twelve 
lived ninety years or more, and one hundred and twenty-six 
— or one-third of the whole — lived seventy years or more. 
The average age was forty-two years, which shows that this is 
a healthy locality. '^ In December, 1828, Levi Freeman John- 
son was appointed to bury the dead. He has held that office 
ever since — now more than forty years — and has performed 
its duties with fidelity and acceptance. 

The church has been much affected by migration, and has 
lost in this way many more members than it has gained. In 
the last twenty-two years, 1847-1868, it received by letter 
forty-seven and dismissed by letter one hundred and two — 
losing at the rate of five in two years. It is probable that, 

<* The deaths in the six years of greatest mortality were as follows: 
1801, 16; 1813, 19; 1826, 18; 1828, 18; 1834,21; 1851,16. The spotted 
fever prevailed in 1813, and nearly three-foiu'ths of the deaths were of 
persons in the vigor of life. The deaths in the five years of least mortality 
were— 1783, 3; 1787, 3; 1836, 2; 1844, 2; 1845, 2. 



40 

from the first, it lias lost by this process fully two hundred 
members more than it has received by letter. The extent of 
this migration is illustrated by the fact that the death-roll of 
the parish for 1777-1851 contains ninety family names, which 
in 1853 were no longer found in the church or congregation. ^ 
It is a satisfaction to know that many of these dismissed 
church members, and many of their descendants, have been 
useful Christians in other communities. 

This church has enjoyed many visitations of divine mercy. 
We can name fourteen years of such fruitfulness as marks the 
reviving of rehgion. Aged members living in 1850, said that 
there was a refreshing about 1773, a work of power about 
1782, and another refreshing in 1793. The revival of 1799 
was probably the most remarkable in the history of this com- 
munity. There was a refreshing in 1806, and there were re- 
vivals in 1816, 1821,f 1827 and 1831. There were added by 
profession, in 1834, twenty-nine; in 1842, twenty-seven; in 
1849, sixteen; in 1858, twenty-nine; and in 1867, nineteen. 
By these seasons, God has replenished the numbers wasted by 
death and migration, cheered the faith, and strengthened the 
hands of his people. 

There is nothing to show how many members the church 
had at any time during the ministry of Mr. Mills. In Janu- 
ary, 1835, after six revivals in the preceding nineteen years, it 
reported two hundred members, namely, seventy-three males 
and one hundred and twenty-seven females, including ten ab- 
sentees. That was undoubtedly the largest membership ever 

" These names are the following : Addis, Adkins, Allyn, Andrews ; Ball, 
Bascom, Battell, Beach, Benham, Blake, Brown, Bull, Burnham, Burrage ; 
Carr, Carter, Case, Castle, Catlin, Clarke, Cole ; Dibble, Dickinson, Doo- 
little, I)^ton ; Ellsworth, Elmer, Even ; Ferguson, Filley, Fitch, Flusky, 
Foot, Francis ; Gibbs, Gilbert, Goodwin, Gi'oss ; Hale, Halton, Han-is, 
Henderson, Holcomb, Hollister ; Ingraham, Ives ; Jones, Judd ; Kelsey ; 
Lawrence, Lee;~Manly, Mather, McCoe, Merrills, Mills, Mix, Morris; 
Nichols, Northaway, Norton ; Parker, Peet, Potter, Preston ; Reynolds, 
Rice, Riley, Robbins, Robertson, Robinson, Rossiter ; Sandford, Shepard, 
Skinner, Soper, StandclitFe, Stone, Strong, Sullivan ; TifF, Tolbert, Tolles, 
Trail, Turrel ; Webster, Wells, Wetmore, White, Wright. 

* It is stated that sixty joined the church as fruits of the revival of 1816, 
and also as many as fruits of the revival of 1821. 



41 

attained by this church. It has never reported so many since, 
and now has one hundred and twenty-seven, or one-third less 
than in 1835. In 1849, Torringford contained one hundred 
and twenty families and five hundred and thirty persons. At 
the present time, there are about ninety-five families and four 
hundred and seventy-five persons. So that the church em- 
braces about twenty-seven per cent, of the population. 

The church has been consociated ever since the settlement 
of the first pastor. It has been among the foremost in senti- 
ment and effort in behalf of the temperance and anti-slavery 
reforms, and lias been commendably liberal in its contributions 
for charitable purposes. These contributions in the last twen- 
ty-two years, 1847-1868, have averaged $400 a year, and 
have amounted to $8,812.05. 

None of the ministers of this church have been arraigned 
for misconduct or false doctrine. They have been good men. 
The deacons have been a succession of noble Christian men, 
and by their good sense and fidelity have given prominence 
and honor to the names of Kelsey, Gaylord, Miller, Curtis, 
Eood and Watson. It is probable that about six hundred 
persons have been members of this church. Many of this 
number have adorned the doctrine of Christ, and one of 
them deserves special mention on this occasion. 

Samuel J. Mills, Jr., the youngest of seven children, four 
of whom died in infancy, was born in this place, April 21, 
1783. g His mother said of him — "I have consecrated this 
child to the service of God as a missionary." In the revival 
of 1799, he was awakened but not brought to Christ. His 
brother Jeremiah, his sister Florilla, and a cousin in tlie family, 
were converted and joined the church ; but he was left under 
conviction and in bitterness of spirit. In 1801, as he was 
leaving home for school at Litchfield, his mother asked him 
to tell her frankly his religious state. He raised his head, 
and with eyes streaming witli tears exclaimed, "O that I had 
never been born ; that I had never been born ; for two years 
I have been sorry God ever made me." She replied, " My 

K His mother was Esther Rohhins Mills. Her parents lived in Canaan, 
and wei*e originally fi'om Wethersfield. 



42 

son, you are born; and you can never throw off your exist- 
ence, nor your everlasting accountability for all your conduct." 
That morning, on his way to Litchfield, he had such views of 
divine things, that he could only exclaim, "Glorious sover- 
eignty, glorious sovereignty," and he turned aside into the 
woods that he might more freely adore God. It was nearly 
three months after this, however, before he expressed hope. 
The same year, and when he was only nineteen years old, he 
said to his father, " That he could not conceive of any course 
of life in which to pass the rest of his days that would prove' 
so pleasant, as to go and communicate the gospel salvation to 
the poor heathen ;" and one day, while toiling at the plough, 
he resolved to get an education and become a missionary. He 
entered Williams college in 1805. He joined this church on 
profession, Sunday, June 1, 1806, at the age of twenty-three 
years. That summer, he was a chief instrument of a revival 
in the college ; and of the students converted in that work, 
many afterwards became ministers and missionaries. From 
the summer of 1807 to the spring of 1808, he and Gordon 
Hallh and James Richards,' were accustomed to meet at. a 
hay-stack, in a secluded spot, for prayer and consultation con- 
cerning missions. In 1808, they formed a society for inquiry 
concerning missions. " The idea of foreign missions then 
met opposition as the offspring of an overheated zeal that 
would soon cool and be forgotten." He was graduated at 
Williams college in September, 1809, and soon after went to 
New Haven, where he met Henry Obookiah, an orphan hea- 
then boy, born in Hawaii about 1792, whose parents and 
younger brother were killed before his eyes in war. He 
reached New Haven in 1809, and was noticed sitting on the 
steps of one of the college buildings, and weeping because he 
could not gratify his desire for learning. IVIills at once became 
interested in him, and planned to have him become a mission- 
ary to the Sandwich Islands ; and when others grew tired of 
helping him, he took him to his father's house in January, 
1810, and placed him, as he expresses it, " under the care of 

''Allen; Sprague, IL, 531. 

' Allen; Sprague, IL, 596-601 ; Miss. Herald, Vol. 19, pp. 241-247. 



43 

those whose benevolence is without a bond to check, or a hmit 
to confine it." He entered Andover theological seminary in 
1810, taking Obookiah with him. Obookiah became a Chris- 
tian, and joined this church on profession, April 9, 1815. 
He afterwards attended the Foreign Mission School in Corn- 
wall, and died there, February 17, 1818, at tlie age of 26.J 
The General Association of Massachusetts, in session at Brad- 
ford in 1810, on petition of Adoniram Judson,^ Samuel Notl, 
Samuel J. Mills, and Samuel Newell,' instituted the American 
Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. His mother 
died December 30, 1810. Learning of her sickness, lie 
started, hoping to reach home and find her alive. As he came 
into Torringford from the east, and traveled the old road — 
now closed — past the burying-groiind, he saw lier newly-filled 
grave, and stopped to visit it. ''Here," lie says, "I gave vent 
to the most impassioned woe." 

In 1811, he and others formed at Andover the Society of In- 
quiry concerning Missions — from which as early as 1829, over 
thirty had gone out as missionaries under the American Bx)ard. 
In 1812 — 181 3, he made a tour of exploration through the 
west and south under the direction of the Massachusetts Home 
Missionary Society and the Missionary Societj^ of Connecticut. 
In this tour, he found seventy-six thousand families at the 
south destitute of the word of God. He made a second tour 
in 1814-1815, over the same region. In New Orleans, in 
March, 1815, he found no Bible for gift or sale. While in that 
city, he visited the hospitals and preached to the soldiers. He 
was ordained as a missionary, with other young men, at New- 
buryport, Mass., June 21, 1815. The two years following his 
ordination were spent chiefly in the middle states, for the sake 
of interesting the Presbyterians in his plans of usefulness. 
In 1816, he secured the formation of the " African School," 
under the care of the Synod of New York and New Jersey, 
to fit colored young men to preach and become missionaries. 

J Allen ; Sprague, II., 293 ; Address of Rev. A. C. Thompson, D. D., at 
Semi-Centenary of Ordination of first Missionaries to Sandwich Islands, 
delivered at Goshen, Conn., September 28, 1869, pp. 7-16. 

^ Allen ; Wayland's Life of Judson. 

' Allen ; Spracriie, TL, 538-542. 



44 

Tlie same year, he secured the establishment of the United 
Foreign Mission Society of Presbyterians, Scotch Presbyter- 
ians and Dutch Reformed, whicli Society was merged in 1826 
in the American Board. He spent the fall of 1816, in mis- 
sionary work in the destitute portions of New York city. 

In Nov., 1817, he and Rev. Ebenezer Burgess sailed in the 
service of the American Colonization Society, to visit England 
and Africa. They had accomplished their errand, and were 
on their voyage of return when, after a short illness, he died 
on Tuesday afternoon, June 16, 1818, at the age of 35 ; and 
on the same day at the going down of the sun, he was buried 
in the waves of the Atlantic. 

He had an apostolic zeal for doing good, and a wonderful 
tact for devising plans and getting other people to work at 
them. When talking with young men about becoming mis- 
sionaries, he would say, in favorable circumstances, as in a 
grove or woody spot, " Come, God only can guide us right, let 
us kneel down and pray." In a letter declining an invitation 
to labor on the Western Reserve in Ohio, he says, " I intend, 
God willing, the little influence I have shall be felt in every 
state in the Union." In a letter to Gordon Hall, he says, " 
that we might glow with desire to preach the gospel to the 
heathen that is altogether irresistible." To Rev. Elias Cor- 
nelius"' on one occasion, he said, " Though you and I are very 
little beings, we must not rest satisfied till we have made our 
influence extend to the remotest corner of this ruined world." 
In a letter to an agent collecting funds for the African School, 
he says, " In your sermons or addresses state facts. Pacts 
will always produce an effect, at least on pious minds." He 
intended to traverse South America in a tour of missionary 
exploration, but did not live to carry out his purpose. 

Just before sailing for England, and as if in expectation of 
his death, he says in a letter to his father, " Our prospects are 
at present fair, but we know not what a day may bring forth. 
God moves in a mysterious way in bringing about his great 
and glorious designs. He sometimes puts our faith to a severe 

'" Allen; Sprague, 11., 633—643 ; Memoir by B. B. Edwards; Christian 
Spectator, 1834, 308—331. 



45 

test. When his church are about to make some great effort 
for the promotion of his glory and the salvation of men, he 
not unfrequently removes some of the most prominent and 
apparently most important aids, lest vain man should glory in 
himself, and not in the Lord." 

The private and public testimony in regard to Mr. Mills, 
furnished after his decease, is a noble and striking tribute to 
his character and usefulness. Says his biographer, Rev. 
Gardiner Spring, D. D., " All are disposed to yield him the 
palm for his exertions in favor of the destitute on our western 
frontier." " The plan of the existing American Bible Society 
originated in the bosom of Mr. Mills ; it was on his mind for 
years before it was formed." He was present when it was in- 
stituted in New York, May 8, 1816. After his death, the 
Board of the " African School " say of him, " For a mind 
teeming with plans to extend the Redeemer's kingdom, wholly 
devoted to that single object, and incessantly engaged to rouse 
others to the same spirit, they fear they shall not ' soon look 
upon his like again." Dr. Edward D. Griffin," speaking of 
Mills and his associates at Williams college, says, " I have 
been in situations to know that from the counsels formed in 
that sacred conclave, or from the mind of Mills himself, arose 
the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions 
the American Bible Society, the United Foreign Mission So- 
ciety, and the African School under the care of the Synod of 
New York and New Jersey, besides all the impulse given to 
Domestic Missions, to the Colonization Society, and to the 
general cause of benevolence in both hemispheres." He adds, 
" If I had any instrumentality in originating any of these 
measures, I here publicly declare that, in every instance, I re- 
ceived the first impulse from Samuel John Mills." Dr. Spring 
says, " He is justly entitled to the praise of originating the 
plan of that noble institution," the American Board of Com- 
missioners for Foreign Missions. He adds, " The almost uni- 
versal acknowledgment of men interested in missionary con- 
cerns attributes to Mr. Mills a distinguishing agency in bring- 

° Allen ; Sprague, IV., 26—43 ; Eev. Cyrus Yale's Discourse in Pro- 
ceedings of North and South Consociations, &c., pp. 109 — 111. 

7 



46 

ing forward a new era in the history of missions in this west- 
ern world." The General Association of Connecticut, in 
1819, in their annual report on religion, say, " It also belongs 
to us to mention respectfully, the Rev. Samuel J. Mills, a 
worthy minister of the Lord Jesus Christ, who died the last 
year in the employment of the Colonization S(Jciety. His 
constitution early impaired, sunk at length under the pressure 
of benevolent, persevering, and indefatigable exertion. He 
found a grave in the ocean, leaving his worthy and reverend 
father and a bereaved Christian community to lament their 
loss. We knew not his worth till he left us. He stole silently 
through the world, and kept himself unseen, while he waked 
the energies of others, condensed the views of the Christian 
community, and concentrated the exertions of pious charity, 
till early ripe for heaven he rested from his labors, and his 
works do follow him." 

In the light of such evidence, we can see why Father Mills 
exclaimed on hearing of Samuel's death, " The death of Oboo- 
kiah beat all, but this beats that."o Indeed, this record of 
one who had not the advantages of wealth, nor rare scholar- 
ship, nor eloquence, nor high public office, and whose life 
closed at thirty-five, constrains me to feel that for the honor 
of promoting the cause of Christ, this church can not afford 
to exchange the name of Samuel J. Mills on its roll for that 
of any o'lier Christian benefactor America has ever produced ; 
and that it was the " glorious sovereignty " he adored, which 
gave him such distinction and usefulness. 

I have presented to your attention the brightest star in the 
crown of this church ; but, as God sees, it shines in the midst 
of many others once filling the various relations of domestic, 
social, civil, and Christian life in this community and now 
glorified in his presence. 

This church has been a blessing on this hill from genera- 
tion to generation. It has enriched every interest of this 
people for time and eternity, and its faith and fruit have 
blessed the world. 

" They died only about four months apart. 



47 

In closing this discourse, I offer you the following words 
of counsel : 

Honor your ancestry, who subdued the forests and planted 
here the institutions of education and religion. Honor the 
ministry of the past, and cheerfully support and co-operate 
with such as may fill the sacred office among you in time to 
come. Honor the church, which has been such a fountain of 
grace, consolation and benediction. Honor God, who is over 
all — the fathers and the children — and the same a century 
ago, to-day, and forever. 



SUPPLEMENT 



A List of Settlers in Torringpord Before 1769, as 
Gathered from the Public Records. 



Aaron Austin, 
Joshua Austin, 
Samuel Austin, 
David Birge, 
John Birge, 
John Burr, 
Benjamin Bissell, 
Ezekiel Bissell, 
William Coe, 
Jesse Cook, 
John Cook, 
Zebulon Curtis, 
Abraham Dibble, 
Thomas Dibble, 



Ephraim Dorwin, 
Samuel Dorwin, 
Elijah Gay lord, 
Nehemiah Gaylord, 
Jabez Gillett, 
John Gillett, 
Isaac Goodwin, 
Shubael Griswold, 
Daniel Hudson, 
Abner Ives, 
Jotham Ives, 
Jonathan Kelsey, 
Nathan Kelsey, 
Samuel Kelsey, 



Charles Mather, 
Benjamin Matthews, 
Amos Miller, 
Ebenezer Miller, 
Roswell Olmsted, 
Abraham Phelps, 
Robert Roice, 
David Soper, 
Timothy Soper, 
Elijah Strong, 
John Strong, 
Levi Watson, 
Oliver Whitman, 
Ebenezer Winchell. 



Father Mills. 
Rev. Hermann L. VailVs Address at the Grave of Mr. Mills 

— received too late to be inserted in its proper place on p. 6. 
Mr. Vaill spoke in substance as follows : 

It seems rather hard to call upon an old man, and he an 
invalid, to open these exercises by an address. I have had 
neither ability nor inclination to study my lesson, nor indeed 
did I know on what particular topic I was expected to speak. 

But the place where we stand must furnish the subject. 
Here we are, my friends, the living among the dead. They 
slumber in the graves of several generations. These monu- 



49 

merits and these nioiinds show us how sin has reigned, and 
" death by sin ; " — and they remind us also of One through 
whose death and resurrection, life and immortality are brought 
to light. This quiet, and retired parish, on one of the high 
hills of Litchfield county, though it be " little among the 
thousands of Judah," has yet a name — as an ecclesiastical 
society, and as having a church in which many godly men 
and women, whose dust is here entombed, were trained up 
for glory ; — that will not be forgotten, and is worthy to be 
had in perpetual remembrance. Many of these godly men 
lived before my day ; but I may mention one of them — Dea- 
con Job Curtis. I well remember, when a boy, reading in 
our Litchfield paper. The Monitor, a notice of his death and 
of the appropriate funeral sermon preached by his pastor, 
from these words, Ps. 12: 1, "Help, Lord; for the godly 
man ceaseth." Do his numerous descendants remember him ? 
And shall not they, and all of us, remember the preacher ? 
He too has long ago ceased to live on earth ; but, think you, 
that the name of Samuel John Mills will ever be forgotten ? 
Even though no monument were erected to his memory, his 
" record is on high ; " and the very name of Father Mills will 
remain, and beheld in honored' regard by all good people 
here, and by all good people who have migrated hence to 
other, and distant states. The Congregational churches of 
Connecticut will remember him as one of their reverend wor- 
thies of a past age. 

Even his eccentricities in matter and in manner, — his 
quaintness in terms, and his wonderful pertinence in illus- 
trating truth, will be handed down in story to coming ages. 
If Martha appealed to Christ for Mary's help, and " slammed 
the door" to show her dislike of the talk in the parlor, the 
standing rebuke to her and all good housewives who carry 
their attempts at hospitality to an extreme, is found in the 
words, " One thing is needful." If the absence of Thomas 
from the prayer meeting, and the possible reason for it, fur- 
nish reproof to the brethren who are remiss in their attend- 
ance, — so always, his stories had meaning, — and his illustra- 



tions would bring tlieir application home, it may be, to the 
conscience and the heart. 

In the spring time, about the year 1807, when the ice in 
the Naugatuck river, broken up by a freshet, was floating 
down in large masses, grinding against each other, he preached 
by exchange in Litchfield, His text in the afternoon was the 
words in the prophecy of Zechariah, " Not by might, nor by 
power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts." His in- 
troductory sentence was in substance as follows : — " As I was 
riding over the bridge in Mast Swamp yesterday, the huge 
cakes of ice were rushing down the rapid stream, andlthougJit, 
What if the Almighty were to call to me from heaven and 
bid me preach to those great cakes of ice ; could my preach- 
ing stop them ? And no more effect will preaching have on 
you, unless the Spirit of God attend the message." 

He believed and taught the great doctrines of the Bible — 
the sovereignty of God, — the entire depravity of man, — the 
necessity of regeneration by the Holy Spirit, — and a free sal- 
vation through Christ to all who accept the offer of his mercy. 
It was no Ksmall favor for a people to live fifty years and more 
under the ministry of such a man ; and it was a blessing to 
their children to receive baptism from his hand, and to have 
the catechism taught and explained by him and thus learn 
" What is the chief end of man." 

Was there then, is there now, any thing blind or obscure 
in the answer ? " Man's chief end is to glorify God, and en- 
joy him forever." 

It might be expected that such training would make a good 
church and people, and that their descendants would cherish 
such a regard for sound doctrine and the institutions of re- 
ligion as you manifest to-day. May these qualities be per- 
petuated in this community ; and may the blessing of Al- 
mighty God be with you all. 

Dr. Charles Woodward's Statement. 
Charles Woodward, M. D., who in early life lived next door 
to Mr. Mills, in the letter read on the occasion, says : " The 
probability is, that there will be no one present at your cele- 



61 

bration that knew Mr. Mills better, or that heard him preach 
more times, than myself. He was truly a remarkable man ; 
not so brilliant, nor so learned, as many others even of his 
day ; but for good practical common sense, he had, if any, 
very few superiors. He had a stalwart form and I think the 
most remarkable physique I ever beheld. He had many pecu- 
liarities. His word was law among his parishioners. With- 
out being very independent in their views, they had implicit 
confidence in him and seemed to pin their faith on his sleeves. 
His discourses were plain and practical, and often illustrated 
by anecdotes which made a deep and lasting impression, though 
he sometimes put the whole congregation in a broad grin in re- 
lating them. I will give one instance among many I might 
relate. His subject was the wickedness of the human heart. 
A young married couple moved and settled in Vermont when 
the state was but a wilderness. They lived for years in a log 
cabin. After awhile they accumulated wealth, and had grown 
up children. They erected a house, and went to the city to 
purchase furniture. The children had never seen a looking- 
glass, and to surprise them, the parents secretly hung one 
up in a room and said nothing about it. Soon one of the 
boys went into the room. He slipped out and procured a 
club, and smashed the glass to pieces. When asked why he 
did it, he said, he looked iipon the wall and saw the devil, 
and he desired to knock his brains out. He had heard a 
great deal of the devil, but not of looking-glasses. The ap- 
plication was — if a man could see his own heart, he would 
think it was the devil, and would serve it as the boy did his 
likeness in the looking-glass. 

He sometimes resorted to singular means to admonish his 
hearers. In the meeting house, the older people sat below 
and the young people in the gallery. One hot summer day, 
under a rather heavy sermon, many of the congregation got 
asleep, and we boys were likely a little noisy in the gallery. 
He stopped in the midst of his sermon and said, ' Boys, you 
must make less noise in the gallery ; if you don't, you will 
wake up your fathers below.' It was a two-edged thrust 
which fulfilled his object." 



52 



Illustrations of his Character. 

He was accustomed to invite the boys of the parish to help 
him husk his corn, and when they came, he would sit on the 
heap about which they were at work, and spend the evening 
in telling them stories. 

Several incidents illustrate the quickness of his sympathy. 
One day a colored man came to his back door on some errand, 
and Mr. Mills said to him, " Why did you come to the back 
door ? When you come to my house, come to the front door ; 
for we shall all go into heaven by one door." 

A poor woman of the neighborhood was present one day 
while his wife was setting the table, and as she put on a loaf 
of bread and left the room, he seized it, handed it to the 
woman, and told her to cover it with her apron and carry it 
home. Mrs. Mills came in soon after and asked what had 
become of that loaf of bread, and he replied, " Madame, are 
you sure you put any bread on the table ? " 

A worthy man in the parish of Arminian views, refused to 
pay his rate for the support of the pastor, and for this he was 
arrested, bound, and placed on a horse that he might be car- 
ried away and dealt with according to law. But just then 
Father Mills came up, his great heart swelling with emotion, 
and exclaimed, " Untie him, untie him ; take him off, take 
him off;" and the man was released. 

It was doubtless owing much to his influence, that the so- 
ciety passed the votes, already referred to, for the relief of 
dissenters. 

He wished to see thoroughness in religious experience. A 
young woman who offered herself for admission to the church 
in 1818, said at her examination, that she had thought little 
of God until she was awakened, when her feelings against his 
government rose to such a degree that, if possible, she would 
have toj^n him from his throne ; and from that the transition 
was so great that she beheld him in everything, and was will- 
ing to be damned, if he decreed it. Mr. Mills pronounced 
the experience " glorious." 



58 

He had a touching sense of his own depravity and sinful- 
ness, which he expressed by such utterances as these : " I 
have thanked the Lord a thousand times that I never did 
anything I had to be hung for." " If I should see a company 
of ever so many people here before me, I should not think 
one of them so great a sinner as myself." 

Rev. Frederick Marsh, pastor at Winchester from Feb. 1, 
1809 to Oct. 2, 1851, and still residing there in an advanced 
and serene old age, speaking of Mr. Mills, in the letter read, 
says, " Calling upon him soon after the news of his son's 
death had been received, after a little conversation respecting 
the trial he must feel in the death of such a son, though some- 
what moved, his only reply was this : ' When my brother 
lived in Sutton, away down towards Boston, he went to visit 
a widow who had lost a son. On speaking to her of her af- 
fliction, she cried out, " my mercies, my mercies ; they are 
so great, it seems as though they would kill me." ' " 

• 

Rev. Luther JIarfs Sketch. 

Rev. Luther Hart, pastor in Plymouth from Sept., 1810 
till his death in April, 1834,^ in a sermon at the funeral of 
Mr. Mills, says : 

" Father Mills ! — why this is an appellation designating the 
wonderful man that has greeted my ears ever since my earli- 
est childhood, and inspired affection and reverence at every 
successive repetition. With hundreds of others, I have cause 
to remember him with deep emotion on more accounts than 
one. It was he thatsome thirty years ago, in discoursing on 
the distinguishing grace of God, was the instrument in God's 
hand of showing me the perversity of my heart, by waking 
into action its latent enmity against divine sovereignty. And 
if ever my poor soul bowed at the feet of Christ, it was in 
connection with his faithful and aifecting disclosure of that 
humiliating doctrine. 

I exceedingly lament that I am not able, on this solemn 

=1 Allen; Sprague, 11, 523— 526 ; Christian Spectator, 1834,475—496, 
article by Kev. Noah Porter, D. D. ; llev. Cyrus Yale's Discourse in Pro- 
ceedings of North and South Consociations, &c., 124 — 127. 



54 

occasion, to give as minute an account as will probably be ex- 
pected, of a minister who for many years, and for many rea- 
sons, attracted more attention than perhaps any other clergy- 
man in this region, and whose praise is still in all the 
churches. 

When I entered into the ministry, his sun had already far 
declined in the west. He belonged also to a different Asso- 
ciation and a different circular meeting, so that I had little 
opportunity to enjoy his society. And had I been familiar 
with him during the last ten years, I should have seen little 
of those commanding traits which once so eminently distin- 
guished him as a man, and a minister, in the days of his un- 
decayed vigor. It is long since he entirely forgot me and 
almost every other person whom he did not see daily. Much 
important matter respecting him might have been afforded me 
by numbers of his people who formerly hung on his lips with 
delight, had I had time to apply to them for the requisite in- 
formation. But notwithstanding my conscious incompetence 
to delineate satisfactorily the life and character of the vener- 
able Mr. Mills, I venture with not a little diffidence, to submit 
the following sketch." Here follow some dates and facts 
elsewhere mentioned, and then he adds — " Concerning Mr. 
Mills' personal piety, I never heard but one opinion. He was 
eminently a man of prayer. His habitual deportment was 
grave and solemn, peculiarly accordant with the dignity of 
the sacred office. His conversation related almost exclusively 
to subjects connected with the kingdom of Christ. With 
worldly affairs, whether domestic or civil, he had little con- 
cern. His thoughts, affections, conversations, and labors 
were chiefly — nay almost exclusively devoted to matters of 
infinitely higher moment. He was pre-eminently a profes- 
sional man. Some other pastors have been among their peo- 
ple more, and have been more sociable and familiar ; but 
what one has ever been more ready to visit the sick, the sor- 
rowful and the poor ; and to administer religious instruction. 
Christian consolation, or temporal relief, according to the 
various wants of his people, and his own ability to supply 
them ? At the side of what sick bed did he neglect to per- 



55 

form the appropriate office of an ambassador of the Lord 
Jesus Christ ? By the dwelling of what broken-hearted widow 
was he accustomed to pass, without at least coming up to her 
door to impress in a few words on her heart for her instruc- 
tion or comfort, some weighty truth which she could scarcely 
ever forget ? And what child of misfortune and want ever 
applied to him for relief of real necessities, and went from 
his door witjiout abundant reason for leaving many thanks 
behind ? 

He had, constitutionally, a remarkable susceptibility to im- 
pressions from a view of the wants and woes of mankind. 
But there was something beyond nature in all this. His un- 
common benevolence towards the needy was not so much an 
instinct as an enlightened, evangelical sympathy. And I 
know not where to look for a Ijrighter practical exemplifica- 
tion than he furnished, of the import of the sacred injunction, 
' Be ye kind to one another, tender hearted.'' His house was 
the abode of hospitality alike to the friend and the stranger ; 
and his heart the seat of good will to his people and the . 
world. 

On no subject did he seem to meditate and converse so 
much as upon revivals of religion, and the ultimate diffusion 
of the light of the gospel among all nations. The beauty of 
the church in the millenium, the peace and happiness of the 
world which it will secure, and the consequent glory of the 
Son of God, filled his eye, fired his soul, animated his prayers, 
and led him not only to advocate and rejoice in the great be- 
nevolent operations of the present age, but cheerfully to give 
up a beloved son as an instrument to facilitate the arrival of 
that blessed period by traversing the distant forests of the 
west, and by encountering the perils — alas to that dear mis- 
sionary — the fatal perils of the deep. And when the tidings 
of the death of that son, Avho fell a sacrifice to the cause of 
humanity, were brought to his ears, there was witnessed as 
noble a demonstration of personal piety in the striking ex- 
pressions of resignation which he poured forth from his heart, 
as there was of parental grief in the tears that gushed from 
liis eyes. 



56 

His popularity as a preacher, and his great influence with 
his ministerial brethren, instead of generating elation and 
arrogance, were connected with an uncommon degree of self- 
distrust and humility. While others were ready to applaud 
his talents and ingenuity, he was meditating on his own sin- 
fulness and ready to smite on his breast with the abashed and 
abased publican. And here I cannot do better than to recite 
two or three sentences from a note received last Saturday 
from your pastor, informing me of the decease of our reverend 
friend. " Of himself," says the letter, " he often remarked 
with emphasis, that he could not find the man on the face of 
the earth to whom he could say, ' Stand by thyself, I am holier 
than thou.' No subject would seem to awaken his apparently 
torpid sensibilities, as he drew near the close of life, like the 
mention of the prospects of Christ's kingdom from the efforts 
now made for its advancement. And his sense of his own 
unworthiness seemed to arise chiefly from the reflection that 
he had done no more in this service when in the vigor of life. 
On asking him at my last interview with him, if he felt ready 
and willing to depart, his characteristic reply was, 'iVo ohjec- 
tions.'' " 

What he was as a preacher, it is less necessary for me mi- 
nutely to describe, because very many of us often heard him 
while in his full vigor, and none of us can be ignorant of his 
iigh eminence in the pulpit. Still, it may be interesting to 
advert for a few moments, to some of the peculiar traits to 
which that eminence was in a great degree owing. His mind 
was more distinguished by the clearness of its perceptions, 
and the quickness of its operations, than by its comprehension 
or profoundness, although it was not deficient in these re- 
spects. It was cultivated less by extensive reading than by 
independent reflection. His was an uncommonly original 
mind. ' In his views of truth, he depended on nothing but 
the word of God ; and with the whole of it, and especially 
with the historical parts of it, he had a more minute and 
familiar acquaintance than any other minister within my 
knowledge, one individual only excepted. A large proportion 
of the texts which he selected were short, and such as most 



57 

other ministers would have overlooked as containing nothing 
worthy of special attention ; and the plans of his sermons were 
at once exceedingly simple and striking, and yet such as with all 
their excellence, almost no other man would have thought of. 
Still they were not far-fetched nor forced. His inferences, 
whether derived from the Bible and constituting the main 
points of discussion, or derived from the body of the sermon 
itself and constituting its close, while they would have been 
made by almost no other preacher, were when stated by him 
obviously just in the estimation of the merest child. 

His original manner of treating subjects sometimes seemed 
to border on oddity, and his expressions were too often of a 
nature to awaken a smile, and sometimes to excite our laugh- 
ter. This, it must be admitted, was a defect. But we have 
good reason to believe that when momentary levity was excit- 
ed, it was never an object at which he aimed, but the unde 
signed effect of the presentation of his own thoughts in his own 
peculiar manner. Or, if he ever aimed for a moment at the 
ludicrous, it was but for a moment. With a consummate knowl- 
edge of the intimate relations between the passions of laughter 
and weeping, it was often the case that no sooner did he per- 
ceive that he had awakened a smile than by a sudden transi- 
tion to some relevant but unexpected remark, he caused the 
assembly to be at once bathed in tears. 

He excelled most men also in the power of description ; and 
this was of great service to him in the pulpit. When he 
described God, or the creature, the saint or the sinner, heaven 
or hell, so vivid were his own apprehensions of the object set 
forth, so ready was his imagination to stretch its pinions and 
soar, and such was his command of language — not indeed the 
most classical and refined, but fidly adequate to express the 
precise shade of the thought that glowed within him — that 
what ever he undertook to portray was as distinctly appre- 
hended by his hearers, as if he had delineated all that he had 
in view on canvas immediately before their eyes. 

He derived great advantage from his skill in illustration. 
In this happy art, the vast body of ministers in liis day were 
lamentably deficient. They had little to do with reference 



58 

to the common business of life, and the analogies found in the 
physical world, in order to impart to their hearers clearer no- 
tions of spiritual things. They did not so extensively as is 
the case at the present day, allude like their Lord and Master 
to the field of nature, and the every-day occurrences of common 
life, and thus familiarize the mind to religious truths through 
the medium of resemblances which natural objects sustain to 
them. Theology was not only made a distinct science but 
a science that bore no relations to any other, and that was 
incapable of borrowing useful exemplifications from any other. 
But Mr. Mills was a diligent student of nature, a careful ob- 
server of men and things ; and never was he more successful 
in the pulpit than when, for the purpose of conveying notions 
of sacred truth to the minds of his audience, he seized upon 
some analogy derived from some familiar occurrence, or from 
some object palpable to the senses. If the justice of God in 
his dealings with men was to be illustrated or defended, he 
reasoned from what all admit to be equitable in human courts 
and human families. If God's long-suffering and compassion 
towards guilty men were to be set forth in an affecting man- 
ner, then he would depict before the assembly the obstinacy 
of a wayward child and the parent all in tears expostulating, 
beseeching, withholding the rod or applying it gently and re- 
luctantly, hoping and waiting long for the ultimate return of 
the young offender to duty. Multitudes of us can never for- 
get how in other years, he held and charmed us, and caused 
our tears to flow by the vivid presentation of these and thou- 
sands of other simple but striking analogies, for the purpose of 
giving us clearer conceptions of the character and dealings of 
God, the wonders of redeeming mercy, or the recklessness of 
the hard hearted, obstinate, perishing sinner. 

His personal appearance was of no little advantage to him 
as a preacher. With a large frame and well proportioned, 
tall, erect, and with a countenance expressive of intelligence 
and mildness, he stood before his congregation as if he had 
been the personification of dignity itself. His features too, 
in all their diversified changes, were a striking index of the 
successive emotions excited in his breast by the theme he was 



59 

discussing ; and by the combined influence of his looks, his 
whole manner, and the nature of tlie truths he proclaimed, he 
exerted under God a three-fold power on the understanding 
and moral susceptibilities of his auditors. 

Another thing which contributed to his eminence in the 
pulpit was, if I mistake not, the habit of speakmg extempora- 
neously. How early in his ministry he commenced this prac- 
tice, I have not been able to learn. Owing to the failure of 
his memory, he was necessitated to write out his sermons 
during several of the last years of his labors ; and when he 
resorted to this course, there was evidently less animation, 
originality and force than he had long been accustomed to ex- 
hibit. But when for a long series of years before, he only 
sketched the leading topics of his discourses on paper, having 
wrought out all the subordinate matter in his mind and 
treasured it in his memory, and stood before the listening 
tlirong, and gave them the whole influence of his eyes, and 
received in return the kindling influence of their gaze, and his 
attention was untrammeled by his notes, so that he could 
allow both excitement and range to his imagination, then it 
was that he disclosed the full majesty and power of his noble 
mind ; then it was that the genuine Samuel John Mills was 
seen and felt to be a great man in Israel. Nor am I alone in 
this estimate of him as a commanding preacher. There are 
hundreds before me, who from their own recollected emotions, 
excited by his instructive voice, are ready to concur with me. 
And, perhaps it is proper to say, it has long been currently 
reported as a declaration of the late distinguished Governor 
Griswold, that if eloquence consists in completely enchaining 
the attention of an audience, Mr. Mills was the most eloquent 
preacher he had ever heard." Copied from the manuscript. 

For further notices of Mr. Mills^ see Discourse of Rev. Abel 
McEwen, D. D., in Proceedings of the North and South Conso- 
ciations, &c., pp. 99-104 ; Allen's American Biographical Dic- 
tionary ; Minutes of General Association of Connecticut for 
1834, p. 14 ; " Father Morris," in Mrs. Stowe's Mayflower, 
and her account of Mr. Mills in Oldtown Folks, p. 454 ; and 
Sprague's Annals, I. 672-677. 



60 



MINISTERS WHO HAVE SERVED IN TORRINGFORD AND ARE NOW 

LIVING. 

Rev. Hermann L. Vaill was born in Litchfield, December 7, 
1794 ; joined the Congregational church there in May, 1816 ; 
was disabled by ill health from a collegiate course ; began the 
study of divinity under Rev. Joseph Harvey, D. D., of Goshen, 
in 1821 ; was licensed by Litchfield South Association, Octo- 
ber 15, 1822 ; was ordained as pastor at Millington, April 6, 
1825 and dismissed April 1, 1828 ; was pastor at East Lyme, 
December 10, 1828 — July 6, 1836 ; was pastor in Torringford, 
July 5, 1837 — September 29, 1839 ; was pastor of the Pres- 
byterian church at Seneca Falls, N. Y., October 28, 1840 — 
April 19, 1843 ; was obliged by enfeebled health to decline 
several invitations to settle ; returned to Litchfield county in 
1848, and preached at Milton, June, 1849 — November, 1851 ; 
and since then has only occasionally performed ministerial 
service. He resides in Litchfield. 

Rev. Brown Emerson was born in Harvard, Mass., August 
11, 1807 ; was graduated at Yale college in 1833 ; studied 
theology at New Haven and Andovcr; was licensed by Middle- 
sex Union Association, Mass., in May, 1836; was ordained as 
pastor at West Boylston, Mass., August 3, 1837 and dismissed 
November 6, 1839 ; was pastor at Torringford, July 21, 1841 — 
September 24, 1844 ; was pastor of the west parish in Dracut, 
Mass., June 5, 1850 — May 9, 1854 ; was pastor at Northum- 
berland, Pa., July 18, 1854 — April, 1856 ; was pastor at 
Montague, Mass., August 21, 1856 — March 2, 1859 ; was 
pastor at Westminster, Mass., June 9, 1859 — May 6, 1862 ; 
removed to South Jersey, and for a time supplied a small 
Presbyterian church ; was stated preacher at Burlington, Conn., 
July 1, 1867 — July 1, 1869 ; and is now stated preacher of the 
south church in New Hartford. Several of the above dismis- 
sions and changes were caused by ill health. 



61 

Rev. John D. Baldwin was born in North Stonington, 
September 28, 1809 ; studied at New Haven, but was not a 
graduate ; studied theology at New Haven ; was licensed by 
New Haven West association in 1834 ; was ordained as pastor 
at West Woodstock, September 3, 1834 and dismissed July 
25, 1837 ; was pastor at North Branford, January 17, 1838 — 
July 3, 1844 ; preached in Torringford at intervals in 1845, 
and received a call to settle, February 28, 1846, which he de- 
clined ; was pastor at East Putnam, April 29, 1846 — Septem- 
ber 17, 1849, when a difficulty in the throat compelled him to 
retire from the ministry. He represented Killingly in the 
legislature of 1849, and as chairman of the committee on ed- 
ucation introduced the measure which established the Normal 
School, and was one of the three commissioners who located 
and organized it. In 1849, he became owner and editor of 
the Hartford Republican ; in 1851 became editor of the Boston 
Commonwealth y afterwards the Telegraph, and held this posi- 
tion till the summer of 1857 ; early in 1859, purchased the 
Worcester Daily and Weekly Spy, which he still owns ; was 
elected to Congress from Mass. in November, 1862, twice re- 
chosen, served six years, and then declined re-election, and is 
now residing in Worcester and occupied as a journalist. Two 
funeral sermons delivered l)y him have been printed. He has 
furnished articles for the Christian Spectator, and the North 
American Meview. A volume of his productions, entitled 
" Raymond Hill and other Poems," was published by Ticknor 
& Fields. His work, " Pre-Historic Nations," was published 
first in London and then in New York. 

Rev. William H. Moore was born in East Lyme, Aug. 24, 
1820 ; his parents moved to Westbrook in 1822 ; he was 
graduated at Yale college in 1841 ; studied theology at New 
Haven, 1843 — 1846 ; was licensed by New Haven West Asso- 
ciation, Aug. 13, 1845 ; was ordained as pastor at Torringford, 
Sept. 30, 1846 and dismissed Sept. 26, 1854 ; edited the Ex- 
aminer at Norwich, Aug., 1854 — Sept., 1855; was pastor at 
Newtown, Nov. 12, 1856— Sept. 30, 1862 ; began service as 
State missionary. Sept; 30, 1862, and is still in that office. 

9 



• - 62 

His farewell discourse at Torringford was published. He re- 
sides in Berlin. 

Rev. Stephen Fenn was born in Plymouth, Conn., Oct. 6, 
1824 ; was graduated at Yale college in 1849 ; studied theol- 
ogy two years at New Haven, and one year at Andover — 
where he was graduated, August 2, 1854 ; was licensed by New 
Haven Central Association, July 6, 1853 ; was ordained as 
pastor at Torringford, Nov. 16, 1854 and dismissed, Sept. 4, 
1857 ; was pastor of first church in Cornwall, May 18, 1859 
— Jan. 1, 1868 ; and is now pastor at Watertown, where he 
was installed, Sept. 16, 1868. He preached the eoncio ad 
clerum in 1867. 

Rev. Charles Newman was born in Egremont, Mass., April 
9, 1831 ; was graduated at Williams college in 1851 ; was 
graduated at Andover theological seminary in 1857 ; was 
licensed by Andover Association, Feb. 10, 1857 ; was ordained 
as pastor at Torringford, May 18, 1858 and dismissed, Oct. 28, 
1862; and is now acting pastor at Lanesboro, Mass., where 
he commenced labor in Oct., 1863. While in Torringford, 
two of his discourses were published — one delivered at the 
funeral of Mrs. Charlotte Roberts, in June, 1858, and the 
other at the funeral of Dea. Thomas A. Miller and his wife, 
in 1861. 

Rev. Spencer 0. Dyer was born in Plainfield, Mass., Oct. 
4, 1827 ; did not pursue a collegiate course ; studied divinity 
with Rev. J. Cunningham, of La Porte, Indiana, and with 
Rev. John Sailor, of Michigan City, Indiana ; was licensed 
by the Presbytery of St. Joseph's in Indiana, April 8, 1857 ; 
was ordained as pastor at Becket, Mass., April 21, 1858 and 
dismissed, June 17, 1862 ; was stated preacher in Torringford, 
Nov., 1862 — Nov., 1863 ; was acting pastor at North Amherst, 
Mass., July, 1864 — July, 1865 ; and has been acting pastor 
at Upton, Mass., since August, 1865. 



63 

Rev. Franklin Noble was born in Washington, D. C, May 
25, 1837 ; was graduated at Williams college in 1856 ; studied 
at Union theological seminary ; was licensed by the Presby- 
tery of the District of Columbia, March 5, 1861 ; was ordained 
as pastor of a Presbyterian church in Sandusky, 0., April 
30, 1862 and dismissed, July 1, 1864 ; was pastor at Torring- 
ford, June 7, 1865— Nov. 30, 1866 ; and took charge of the 
Atlantic Avenue Mission, Brooklyn, N. Y., Dec. 1, 1866, in 
which the Church of the Covenant was organized, March 10, 
1868, and to that church he still ministers. 

Rev. Joseph F. Gaylord was born in Norfolk, Conn., Nov. 
4, 1836 ; was graduated at Yale college in 1863, and at Union 
theological seminary in 1866; was licensed by the' Associa- 
tion of New York and Brooklyn in April, 1866 ; began to 
preach in Torringford in Jan., 1867, where he was ordained 
without charge, Nov. 7, 1867, and served until Jan., 1869. 

Torringford and Military Affairs. 
It appears from a journal kept by Lieut. Shubael Griswold, 
that a number of the first settlers of Torringford enlisted in 
the army in the spring of 1758, in the time of the French 
and Indian war. They marched from Torringford, June 20, 
1758, for Ticonderoga and Crown Point, in the company of 
Capt. David Parsons and in a regiment commanded by Gen- 
eral Lyman. They reached Fort Edward, July 4. The next 
day, they marched to Lake George and " tented." July 6, 
they went into tents at Ticonderoga. A battle began the 
same day at two p. m., in which they took one hundred and 
fifty prisoners and lost a few men, and Lord Howe was killed. 
On Friday, July 7, they renewed the attack, but were driven 
back, and lay by until dark, when they started again, but got 
lost in the woods, and remained in them until Saturday, July 
8. About ten o'clock that day, a battle began and lasted till 
sunset, when they retreated, having lost about two thousand 
men. They remained in that region for some time, and had 
some trouble from the Indians. 



64 

August 2, Elijah Strong, of Torringford, died. August 20, 
Thomas Dibble, of Torringford, died at Port Edward, having 
been wounded a short time before while crossing the lake. 
They left Lake George, Oct. 13, 1758, and arrived in Torring- 
ford, Oct. 28, 1758. 

The journal shows that the next year, Lieut. Griswold, of 
Capt. Humphrey's company, in Gen. Lyman's regiment, re- 
ceived orders, March 22, 1759, went to Albany in May, crossed 
Lake George and reached Ticonderoga in the latter part of 
July, and was present at the taking of that place and Crown 
Point in July, 1759. 

The same Shubael Griswold was a captain in the war of 
the revolution ; and the marching roll of his company, made 
up of men from Torringford, Litchfield, and Cornwall, con- 
tains the following names of Torringford men : 

Asaph Atwater, Elisha Kelsey, 

Nathaniel Barber, Timothy Kelsey, 

Prederick Bigelow, Timothy Loomis, 

John Birge, Cotton Mather, 

Ebenezer Bissell, Thomas Matthews, 

Return Bissell, Jonathan Miller, 

John Burr, Charles Roberts, 

Setli Coe, Stephen Rossi ter, 

Isaac Pilley, Thomas Skinner, 

Benjamin Prisby, Daniel Winchell. 
Amljrose Pyler, 

Ebenezer Bissell and Return Bissell joined the army at 
Sawpits. It may be added that Simeon Birge, Levi Watson, 
Thomas Watson and Dr. Samuel Woodward, also served in 
the army. Mr. Birge enlisted near the close of the war. 
Mr. Levi Watson was at Danbury when it was burned by the 
British. Mr. Thomas Watson was in the state service, which 
he entered at the age of fifteen, and in the continental army, 
which he joined at nineteen. He served under Col. Zebulon 
Butler. He and Mr. Birge were the last two surviving sol- 
diers of the revolution in the place. Mr. Watson died, Jan. 
23, 1850, aged 86; and Mr. Birge, Jan. 8, 1854, aged 97.— 
Watson Ctihi''(Io[/i/, pp. 20, 21. 



65 

In the early part of 1781, the French army passed through 
this place on their way to join Washington's army near New 
York, and encamped on this street, and years ago the older 
people used to point out the place where they built their camp 
fires for cooking. Heavy cannon were also taken through the 
place on another occasion for service in the army.* 

In the war of 1812, Chester Loomis served as Lieut, and 
Catlin Bissell and Aaron Loomis as privates. 

In the war of 1861 — 1865, Torringford furnished its quota 
of men and means in response to every call of the govern- 
ment ; and the women heartily co-operated m such things as 
they could provide for the comfort of the soldiers in the ser- 
vice and in the hospitals, and often held meetings for this 
purpose. The following from Torringford served in this war : 

Capt. Hubbard Tuttle, Augustus Eggleston, substitute, 

Lieut. Wilbur F. Birge, Mortimer Evans, 

Warren B. Murray, musician, Epaphroditus Harrison, 

Lucius C. Bissell, Nelson Harrison, 

Virgil R. Bissell, James Moran, 

John R. Blakesley, Asahel Perkins, 

John R. McD. Cleveland, Frederick Pierce, 

Henry Colt, Hannibal Randall, 

Orrin Cook, Hawley Reed, 

Erwin Curtis, Joseph Reed, 

James Walling, Jr. 

Of these, Hannibal Randall died of sickness near New Or- 
leans, James Walling, Jr., is supposed to have been killed in 
battle, and Asahel Perkins died of a wound. 

It may be added, that Frank Bailey and Martin Hull, who 
formerly lived in Torringford, died in Andersonville prison. 

a Jeremiah Spencer, born in Bolton, Feb. 5, 1770, was taken by his par- 
ents with five other children to Wyoming. In the summer of 1776, the 
father died of small pox. The two older sons were killed in the battle of 
Wyoming, July 3, 1778, and the mother and four surviving children fled 
from the scene of desolation on foot for Bolton, which they reached in 
five weeks, Jeremiah, then in his ninth year, making the whole journey 
on foot, without hat, coat or shoes. He moved to Torringford about 1803, 
where he spent the rest of his life. He joined the church on profession, 
July 4, 1858, in his 89th year, and died, Oct. 22, 1863, in his 94th year. 



m 



College Graduates from Torringford, with the Name of 
THE College and the Year of Graduation. 

Jonathan Miller, Yale, 1781 

Stanley Griswold, Yale, 1786 

Joseph Miller, Williams, 1799 

Charles I. Battell, Yale, 1808 

Harvey Loomis, Williams, 1809 

Orange Lyman, Williams, 1809 

Samuel J. Mills, Jr., Williams, 1809 

Rufus Woodward, Yale, 1816 

John Bennett Lyman, AVilliams, 1825 

Lucius Curtis, Williams, 1835 

Hudson Burr, Yale, 1853 

John T. Miller, Yale, 1854 



Ministers raised up in Torringford. 

Jonathan Miller, son of Dea. Ebenezer and Thankful 
Allen Miller, was born, Nov. 26, 1761 ; was graduated at Yale 
college in 1781 ; was ordained as pastor at Burlington, Nov. 
26, 1783, and died there in that office, July 21, 1831, aged 70. 
He preached a concio ad clerum in 1812, which was published. 
He also published the substance of forty sermons in the Con- 
necticut Evangelical Magazine. In consequence of too close 
study, his mind broke down, and he was deranged during the 
latter part of his life. 

Allen ; Sprague, I., 690, 691 ; Rev. Cyrus Yale's Discourse 
in Proceedings of Litchfield North and South Consociations, 
&c., pp. 112, 113. 

Stanley Griswoli-, son of Capt. Shubael and Abigail Stan- 
ley Griswold, was born, Nov. 14, 1763 ; was admitted as a 
member of the church in Yale college on profession, July 6, 
1783, and was graduated at that institution in 1786 ; was or- 
dained as pastor at New Milford, Jan. 20, 1790 and dismissed 
in 1802 ; published a sermon preached at the funeral of Rev. 
Nathaniel Taylor^i in New Milford, in 1800, a political sermon 



67 

preached at Wallingford in 1801, entitled " Overcome evil 
Avith good," and a sermon preached at Suffield in 1802, en- 
titled " The good land we live in ; " left the ministry in 1803, 
owing to a change in his views, and edited a weekly paper in 
Walpole, N. H. ; in 1805, was commissioned by Jefferson as 
Secretary of Michigan Territory, and resided at Detroit ; in 
1809, was appointed United States Senator for Ohio, by Gov. 
Huntington, to fill a vacancy, and made his residence at Cin- 
cinnati ; was afterwards appointed Chief Judge of North West 
Territory, and resided at Shawneetown, Illinois, where he 
died, Aug. 21, 1815, aged 52. 

It is gratifying to know that when Samuel J. Mills made 
his second tour through the west and south in 1814, Judge 
Griswold l)efriended his enterprise ; and when he returned in 
1815, he found him actively engaged in forming a Bible So- 
ciety for the eastern part of the Territory, and anxious that 
a missionary should be sent to labor there. 

Allen ; Sprague, I., 468 ; Dr. McEwen's Discourse in Pro- 
ceedings of Litchfield North and South Consociations, &c., 
pp. 69, 70. What Home Missions have done for Illinois, by 
Rev. Joseph E. Roy, D.D,, in Congregational Review for 
Sept., 1869, pp. 402, 403. 

Harvey Loomis, son of Joseph and Rhoda Starhs Loomis, 
was born in 1785 ; was graduated at Williams college in 1809 ; 
studied theology with his pastor and with Rev. Ebenezer Por- 
ter, of Washington, Conn. ;b was licensed, and went under a 
commission of the Maine Missionary Society to Bangor, Me., 
where he gathered a church, of which he was ordained as 
pastor, Nov. 27, 1811, and died there in that office, Jan. 2, 
1825, aged 40. He published a sermon preached before the 
Maine Miss. Society in 1823. During his pastorate, 107 were 
added to the church on profession and 40 by letter. 

Allen ; Sprague, II., 555 — 562. 

"Allen; Sprague, I., 467 — 469; Dr. McEwen's Discourse in Proceed- 
ings of North and South Consociations, &c., pp. 66 — 69. 
>> Allen ; Sprague, IL, 351—361. 



68 

Orange Lyman, son of David and Mary Brown Lyman, was 
born, July 26, 1780 ; was graduated at Williams college in 
1809 ; studied divinity with Rev. David Porter, D. D., of 
Catskill, N. Y., and taught the academy in that place ; labored 
a few months with Samuel J. Mills, Jr., in the service of the 
Missionary Society of Connecticut in western New York ; was 
ordained as pastor at Ellsworth, Conn., Aug. 26, 1813 and 
dismissed, Sept. 24, 1816 ; labored under the Missionary So- 
ciety of Connecticut in New York, on the ground where Fre- 
donia, Westfield and other flourishing communities have since 
grown up; was settled at Yernon, N. Y., in 1817 and dis- 
missed in 1825 ; was then employed as an agent of the Miss, 
Soc. of Conn, until 1826 ; removed to Painesville, 0., where 
he preached several years ; afterwards labored at Richmond, 
N. Y., and at Thompson, 0. ; in 1838, went to Illinois and 
became the first minister of a small church at Downer's Grove, 
Du Page county, where he served until disabled by the in- 
firmities of age, and where he died, July 15, 1851, aged 71. 
His funeral sermon was preached by Rev. Robert Patterson, 
D. D., of Chicago. 

He married Marcia Dewey, of Sheffield, Mass., Sept. 13, 
1814, and had seven children. The widow is still living, and 
three sons, Stephen D., Henry M. and Thomas Lyman, the 
two latter at Downer's Grove. 

Samuel John Mills, Jr. 

See Historical Discourse, pp. 41 — 46. Memoir, by Rev. 
Gardiner Spring, D. D. ; Allen ; Sprague, II., 566—572 ; 
Minutes of General Association of Connecticut for 1819, pp. 
13, 14 ; HolKster, 11. , 649 ; Dr. Roy's article in Cong'l Re- 
view for Sept., 1869, pp. 401—406 ; Litchfield County Cen- 
tennial Celebration, p. 60 ; Dr. McEwen's Discourse in Pro- 
ceedings of Litchfield North and South Consociations, &c., 
pp. 103, 104 ; Memoirs reviewed by Rufus Woodward in 
Christian Spectator, II., p. 250. 

David Miller, son of David and Clarissa Moore Miller, was 
born, Nov. 24, 1793 ; taught school in early life in Virginia ; 
entered the itinerant ministry of the Methodist Episcopal 



69 

Church, New York Conference, in 1816 ; was ordained deacon 
in 1818, and elder in 1820 ; labored as follows : 1816, Gran- 
ville, Mass. ; 1817, 1818, Durham, Conn.; 1819,1820, Strat- 
ford; 1821, Pittsfield, Mass. ; 1822, Goshen, Conn. ; 1823, 
Winsted; 1821, 1825, Salisbury; 1826, Granville, Mass.; 
1827—1833, located at Windsor ; 1834, Burlington ; 1835, 
1836, Stratford ; 1837, 1838, Derby ; 1839,1840, Sag Harbor, 
L. I.; 1841, 1842, Burlington; 1843, 1844, New Britain; 
1845 — 1850, chaplain of State prison at Wethersfield ; 1850, 
1851, Goshen ; 1852,Pleasant Yalley and New Hartford ; 1853, 
West Hartland ; 1854, Riverton, Pleasant Valley and New 
Hartford ; 1855, presiding elder of Hartford District in New 
York East Conference — in which office he died, at Bristol, 
Dec. 21, 1855, aged 63. 

Luther Rossiter, son of Newton Rossiter ; became an 
Episcopal minister, and his life has been spent at the west. 

Erasmus D. Moore, son of Aaron and Polly Fyler Moore, 
was born in Winsted, where his father practiced medicine ; 
came to Torringford at the age of sixteen to learn the joiner's 
trade, and lived with his grandfather, Ulysses Fyler ; joined 
the church on profession ; entered Amherst college in 1824, 
and subsequently pursued collegiate studies at New Haven, 
where he also studied theology for three years, 1830 — 1833 ; 
was ordained pastor of the church at Natick, Mass., Nov. 6, 
1833 and dismissed in April, 1838 ; was installed at Barre, 
Mass., July 1, 1840 and dismissed, Oct. 19, 1842 ; took edi- 
torial charge of the " Boston Recorder" in Jan., 1844, and 
two years later started the " Boston Reporter," subsequently 
enlarged to the " Congregationalist," of which he was for 
some time office editor ; was afterwards employed four or five 
years in preparing for the press the " Old Colony and Massa- 
chusetts Bay Recorders," printed by the State ; and for sev- 
eral years past has been an officer in the Boston Custom House, 
which position he now holds. 

Lucius Curtis, son of Dea. Elizur and Amanda Steele Cur- 
10 



70 

tis, was graduated at Williams college in 1835 ; studied the- 
ology at Andover and New Haven ; was licensed by Andover 
Association in Mass., in 1845 ; was ordained as pastor of first 
church in Woodbury, July 6, 1846 and dismissed, June 6, 
1854 ; was pastor at Colchester, May 28, 1856— May 19, 1868 ; 
and is now preaching in Ripon, Wisconsin. 

Warren H. Roberts, son of Pelatiah and Sarah Judd 
Roberts, was born in 1826 ; did not take a collegiate course ; 
entered the Episcopal church and received deacon's orders in 
1856 and was ordained to the priesthood in 1857 ; officiated 
for a short time as minister of St. Mary's church, in Hills- 
borough, 0. ; was rector of St. Peter's church, Sycamore, Il- 
linois, 1857 — 1862 ; was rector of Grace church. Galena, 111., 
1863 — 1865 ; was rector of St. Paul's church, Peoria, 111., 
1865 — 1869 ; and is now rector of St. John's church, Pitts- 
burg, Pa. 

Women of Torringford who have become Wives of 
Ministers. 

Kezia, daughter of Dea. Job and Eunice Cowles Curtis, 
married Rev. Archibald Bassett, who was born in Derby, 
March 21, 1772 ; was graduated at Yale college in 1796 ; was 
ordained as pastor at Winchester, May 20, 1801 and dismissed, 
August 27, 1806 ; was pastor at Walton, Delaware county, 
N. Y., 1807 — 1810, and lived there preaching in the region 
and helping his brethren in revivals, as opportunities were 
afforded, and died, April 29, 1859, aged 87. She died, Jan. 
19, 1868. 

Sarah, daughter of W^illiam and Sarah Buckingham Bat- 
tell, born, May 29, 1781, married Rev. Robert McEwen, D. I)., 
Jan. 21, 1807. He was ordained as pastor of the first church 
in New London, Oct. 22, 1806, and continued in that office 
until his death, Sept. 7, 1860. Cong'l Quarterly, III., (1861) 
p. 68. She died, March 9, 1859, aged 78. 



71 

Ann S., dciugliter of William and Sarah Buckingham Bat- 
tell, married Rev. Harvey Loomis in 1811. See p. (37. She 
died, July 27, 1861, aged 78. 

Marcia Whiting, daughter of Harvey and Olive Barber 
Whiting, married Rev. David Miller in 1816. See pp. 68, 
69. She died, April 20, 1863, aged 71. 

Julia, daughter of Jeremiah and Eleanor Witter Mills, 
married Rev. Samuel C. Damon, D. D., whose hfe has been 
spent chiefly as seamen's chaplain, and preacher, at the Sand- 
wich Islands. 

Fannie W., daughter of Dea. Elizur and Amanda Steele 
Curtis, married Rev. John P. Gulliver, D. D., Sept. 8, 1846. 
He was ordained as pastor of Broadway church, Norwich, 
Oct. 1, 1846 and dismissed, Oct. 2.5, 1865 ; was pastor of the 
New England church, Chicago, Feb. 21, 1866— July 20, 1868 ; 
and is now president of Knox college, Galesburg, Illinois. 

Caroline Helen, daughter of Cicero and Sophia Squires 
Hay den, married Rev. Jonathan A. Wainwright, of Montpe- 
lier, Vt., Sept. 8, 18.58. He was ordained as a deacon by 
Bishop Horatio Potter, in Trinity church. New York city, 
June 27, 1858, and became assistant of the rector of the 
Church of the Transfiguration in that city ; resigned that po- 
sition, Sept. 8, 1858, and at once took temporary charge of 
St. John's church near Fort Caswell, N. C. ; served at that 
military post one year, when he became rector of St. John's 
church, Wilmington, N. C, where he was ordained as a priest 
on Ascension day. May 17, 1860 ; held that charge until Nov., 
1861 ; from that time until Sept., 1862, had no settled charge, 
but officiated from Sunday to Sunday at Milton and Bantam 
in Litchfield ; was elected chaplain of 19th Regt. Conn. Vols., 
or 2d Conn. Heavy Artillery, and resigned that office, March 
1, 1863 ; was called to the rectorship of St. John's church, 
Salisljury, Conn., March 27, 1863, which position he now 
holds. 



72 

Sophia Cornelia, daughter of Cicero and Sophia Squires 
Hayden, married Rev. George W. Fogg, July 18, 1859. He 
was born in Virginia ; joined Kentucky Conference in 1828 
and was stationed that year on Logan district ; was subse- 
quently stationed at Bowling Green, Salt River district, Eliza- 
bethtown, Mt. Sterling, Bairdstown, Newport, Covington, 
Louisville and Shelbyville ; was for a few years disabled by 
ill health ; traveled on agencies ; manumitted several slaves, 
and was employed for a time in gathering emigrants to Li- 
beria; joined Florida Conference in 1847, and has been sta- 
tioned at Tallahassee, Gadsden, Apalachicola, Albany, Geo., 
St, John's, Fla., and is now stationed as a preacher at Fer- 
nandina, Fla. He owns a residence at Mt. Pleasant, Fla. 

Lawyers raised up in Torringford. 
Stanley Griswold. See pp. QQ^ 67. 

Joseph Miller, son of Dea. Ebenezer and Thankful Allen 
Miller, was born, Oct. 29, 1779 ; was graduated at Williams 
college in 1799 ; studied law at Litchfield, and began practice 
in Fairfield ; moved to Winsted about 1806, where he prac- 
ticed until 1834 ; was a member of the Constitutional Con- 
vention in 1818, and represented Winchester in the legisla- 
ture two or three times about 1830 ; moved to Richland, 
Michigan, in 1834, and devoted himself to agriculture ; was 
a member of the legislature of that State in 1840 and 1841 ; 
and died, June 29, 1864, aged 85. He delivered an oration 
in Torringford, Feb. 22, 1800, commemorative of Washington, 
a copy of which, in manuscript, has been furnished by his 
son, James Miller, Esq., of Grand Rapids, Michigan. 

Charles I. Battell, son of William and Sarah Bucking- 
liam Battell, was born in Torringford, July 25, 1789 ; was 
graduated at Yale college in 1808 ; studied law at Catskill, 
N. y., and spent the earlier years of his professional life in 
the western part of that State ; moved to Indiana in 1819, 
and lived first at Springfield, and was a member of the leg- 



73 

islature in 1821, 1822 ; resided at Evansville, Indiana, 1823 
— 1866 ; filled with honor important public positions, and 
among them that of judge of the state circuit court ; he 
spent the last two years of his life at Cleveland, 0., where he 
died, April 12, 1868, aged IS.— Yale Obituary Record, 1868, 
p. 265. 

Hudson Burr, son of Rufus and Ann S. Hudson Burr, was 
born in Torringford, January 23, 1830; was graduated at Yale 
college in 1853 ; was teacher of languages in Maryland Mili- 
tary Academy, September, 1853 — September, 1854 ; moved to 
Bloomfield, Illinois, December, 1854 ; was assistant circuit 
clerk for McLean county four years ; began to practice law 
in July, 1859 ; enlisted in 94th Reg't 111. Vols, in August, 1862, 
and was commissioned as adjutant of the regiment ; was com- 
missioned as captain and assistant adjutant-general in May, 
1863, and was in the army of the frontier and the army of 
the Tennessee ; was city attorney of Bloomington in 1866 and 
1867, and is now practicing law in that city in the firm of 
Williams & Burr. 

John T. Miller, son of Dea. Thomas A. and Mary Q. Hud- 
son Miller, was born, February 28, 1832 ; was graduated at 
Yale college in 1854; studied law in Grand Rapids, Mich., 
and in Poughkeepsie, N. Y. ; began practice at Grand Rapids, 
Mich., in March, 1859, where he now resides in the pursuit 
of his profession. 

Men raised up in Torringford noteworthy for Attainments, 
Business or Position. 

Aaron Austin, son of Aaron Austin, born in Torringford, 
moved to New Hartford, became a judge, and was for many 
years one of the Governor's Council. 

Eliphalet Austin, son of Aaron Austin, born in Torring- 
ford, moved to New Hartford and thence in 1801 to Ohio, 
where the town of Austinburg was named for him. He was 
distinguished as a judge, and had at least one-half of the 
Western Reserve for his district. 



74 

JoAB Austin, son of Nathaniel Austin, born in Torringford 
in 1788, went to Austinburg, 0., in 1806, engaged in mercan- 
tile life and died wealthy. 

Joseph Battell, son of William and Sarah Buckingham 
Battell, was born in Milford, July 21, 1774. The family 
moved soon after to Woodbury, and thence to Torringford, 
where his early life was spent. In 1792, at the age of eighteen, 
he went to Norfolk and commenced business for himself. Here 
for forty-six years he was actively and successfully engaged 
in mercantile pursuits, and was widely and honorably known 
at the south and w^est. He was one of the earliest and most 
liberal donors to the American Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb, 
and to the Connecticut Retreat for the Insane, of which he 
was a Director. He was a Trustee of Middlebury college, and 
received the honorary title of M. A. from that institution. He 
often represented Norfolk in the legislature. 

He married Sarah Bobbins, daughter of Rev. Ammi R. 
Robbins, first pastor of the church in Norfolk. a The first 
year of their married life, they adopted as a son, her nephew 
William Lawrence, who married Caroline Augusta Rockwell, 
of Colebrook, and resided at Northampton, Mass., where he 
died, February 22, 1867, aged 65. They subsequently had 
nine children, who are all living — Joseph, Philip, Sarah, Irene, 
Urania, Anna, Robbins, John, Ellen. He died, November 30, 
1841, aged 67. ^ She died, September 23, 1854, aged 75.^ 

Of the sons — Joseph was graduated at Middlebury college 
in 1823, Philip at the same institution in 1826, and Robbins 
at Yale college in 1839. Of the daughters — Sarah married 
Rev. Joseph Eldridge, D. D., who was ordained as pastor of 
the church in Norfolk, April 25, 1832, which office he still 
holds. Irene married Rev. William A. Larned, who was or- 

a Allen ; Sprague, I., 369, 370 ; Dr. McEwen's Discourse in Proceedings 
of Litchfield North and South Consociations, &c., pp. 90-92. 

!> Discourse of Rev. Fredei-ick Marsh at funeral of Joseph Battell, and 
Remarks of Rev. Joseph Eldridge, D. D., in same pamphlet. 

- Allen. 



75 

dained as pastor of the church in Millbury, Mass., in May, 
1834 and dismissed in October, 1835 ; was associated with 
Rev. N. S. S. Beman, D. D., and Rev. E. N. Kirk, in teaching 
in a theological institution at Troy, N. Y., for three years, 
1836-1838, and was Professor of Rhetoric and English Lite- 
rature in Yale college from the fall of 1839 until his death in 
February, 1862.^ Urania married Hon. James Humphrey, 
who began the practice of law in Louisville, Ky., in. 1836, 
moved to Brooklyn, N. Y., in 1838, and followed his profes- 
sion in New York city for nearly thirty years in the eminent 
law firm of Butler, Barney & Humphrey ; was sent to the 
Legislature, and was elected to Congress in 1858 and in 1864, 
and died while a member of Congress, in June, 1866.'' 
Ellen married Rev. Azariah Eldridge, D. D., pastor of the 
North Congregational church in New Bedford, Mass., 1847- 
1856 ; pastor of Fort-street Presbyterian church, Detroit, 
Mich., 1858-1865, and preacher at the American chapel, 
Paris, 1866-1868. 

Jo SI AH Battell, son of William and Sarah BucUngham 
Battell, was born, March 1, 1776 ; spent two years in Yale 
college, and studied law in Litchfield ; was one of the early 
settlers of Morgan, 0., where he followed agriculture, and 
died, May 10, 1843, aged 67. 

RuFUS Woodward, son of Dr. Samuel and Mary Gi-iswold 
Woodward, was born, July 17, 1793 ; was graduated at Yale 
college in 1816, with the highest honors ; was tutor in that 
institution, Oct., 1818— Feb. ,'1822, when his health failed ; 
sailed for Europe in July, 1823, for the purpose of pursuing 
his studies and if possible, of regaining his health, and died 
in Edinburgh, Nov. 24, 1823, aged 30. He was interred in 
the ministers' burying ground in that city in a spot beneath a 
stone tablet in the wall, and his brother, Dr. Charles Wood- 
ward, has caused a marble slab to be inserted in the wall, 



" President Woolsey's Discourse at funeral of Prof. Larned. 
•> Daily Globe, June 25. l.Sfifi. 



76 

with a suitable inscription. He was a young man of such rare 
moral and intellectual qualities as gave promise of distin- 
guished usefulness. He deli^^red an oration before the Phi 
Beta Kappa Society in 1822. He contributed the following 
articles to the Christian Spectator : a Review of the Memoirs 
of Samuel J. Mills, H., p. 250; an Inquiry respecting Con- 
science, n., p. 337; a Review of the Means of National Pros- 
perity, n., p. 358 ; on Purity of Heart, HI., p. 225; Review of 
Stewart's Outlines, III., p. 244. 

For further notices of him, see the March numlier of the 
Christian Spectator for 1825, and Biographical Sketches of the 
members of the class. of 1816, pp. 68-69, prepared by Prof. 
William C. Fowler, LL. D., who was his class-mate, room- 
mate, and fellow tutor at Yale college. 

John Bennett Lyman, son of John and Salome Malthy Ly- 
man, was graduated at Williams college in 1825 ; studied 
theology at New Haven ; was licensed by New Haven East 
Association in 1831 ; has been considerably employed in 
teaching, and is now residing in Torringford and engaged in 
agriculture. 

Ebenezer Harris Rood, son of Dea. Bbenezer and Ann 
Aurelia Loornis Rood, was born, September 25, 1825; went to 
Illinois about 1847 ; was employed a few years at Farmington 
in agriculture and teaching; moved to Bloomington, 111., 
about 1850, where he is successfully engaged in the grain 
and lumber business. He has been clerk of McLean county, 
and has been two or three times elected mayor of Blooming- 
ton. 

Physicians of Torringford. 

Isaac Day, a native of Colchester, practiced here a short 
period, and died, Sept. 16, 1779, aged 29. 

Joel Soper, a native of Windsor, resided here and was in 
practice about the time of Dr. Day's death. He afterwards 
practiced in Goshen, and subsequently moved to Augusta, 



77 

Oneida county, N. Y., where he died about 1830, aged 94. 
His wife, Rachel Hill^ died about the same time, aged 88. 

Samuel Woodward, M. D., born in Watertown in 1751 ; was 
two years at Yale college when the course of study was inter- 
rupted by the war ; began the study of medicine ; volunteered 
to defend New Haven and Fairfield when they were attacked by 
the British, and served for a time as the surgeon of a regiment ; 
began practice in Torringford in 1779 ;a educated not less 
than forty students, and was the consulting physician for all the 
region; represented Torrington several times in the legislature 
and died, Jan. 26, 1835, aged 84. Judge Church speaks of him 
as " almost literally a father of the faculty." It was owing to 
the presence and influence of this eminent man that, as Dr. 
Charles Woodward says, " more young men have probably 
entered the profession from Torringford than from any place 
of its size in New England." 

Samuel B. Woodward, M. D., was for a time associated 
with his father in practice here. See page 81. He was fol- 
lowed by 



a He married Mary Griswold, daughter of Capt. Shubael and Abigail 
Stanley Griswold, in 1780; and here is a copy of the outfit the bride re- 
ceived, which in kind and amount was in those days considered " splendid." 



1 Cow, - 


- $12.00 


1 Brass Kettle — 4 pail 


fulls, ;$7.00 


1 Case of Di-awers, 


- 18.00 


1 Iron Pot, 


- 1.50 


1 Square Table, 


3.00 


1 Tea Kettle, - 


1.50 


G Good Chairs, 


- 9.00 


1 Dish Kettle, 


- 1.50 


5 Common Chairs, - 


4.50 


1 Spider, - - - 


1.00 


2 Pewter Platters, 


- 1.75 


1 Skillet, 


50 


6 Pewter Plates, 


2.00 


2 Candle Sticks, 


50 


6 Earthen Plates, 


- • 50 


1 Dutch Wheel, - 


- 2.67 


2 Beds — complete, - 


45.00 


1 Pair of Flat-Irons, 


1.25 


1 Quart Pewter Cup, - 


75 


Linen, 


- 5.50 


G Knives and Forks, 


2.50 


Slice and Tongs, 


2.00 


1 Quart Basin, 


50 


2 Beds, 


- 5.00 


1 Pint do.. 


34 


Curtains, 


5.00 


1 Porringer, 


34 


1 Great Chair, 


- 1.00 


1 Looking Glass, 


4.00 


1 Chest, 


60 


1 Pewter Tea Pot, 


- 1.50 








1 Set of Tea Cups and Saucers, 50 




$142.70 



11 



78 

Erasmus D. Hudson, who did not continue long in practice 
here. See p. 80. 

Jairus Case, a native of Simsbury, succeeded him, but not 
long after moved to Winsted and engaged in other pursuits, 
and is now residing in Granby. 

Edward^ W. Hatch, M. D., a native of Blandford, Mass., 
practiced here in 1843-1844, and no man has succeeded him. 
He moved to Meriden and followed his profession until he was 
chosen superintendent of the State reform school in that 
city, January 12, 1859, which position he now holds. He is 
also physician and treasurer of the institution. 



Physicians raised up in Torringford. 

Thaddeus Austin, son of Andrew Austin, born in 1783 ; 
studied with Dr. Samuel Woodward ; practiced in Fayetteville, 
N. C, and died, much respected by the profession, Sept. 12, 
1812, aged 29. 

John Bissell, son of Ebenezer Bissell, born about 1779 ; 
studied with Dr. Samuel Woodward ; died in Onondaga coun- 
ty, N. Y., at a good old age. 

Eliphaz Bissell, son of Eliphaz Bissell, born 1779 ; studied 
with Dr. Samuei Woodward; practiced in Vernon, N. Y., 
and was reputed to lie talented ; died by drowning in 1829, 
aged 50. 

Hezekiah Bissell, son of Eliphaz Bissell, born 1792 ; 
studied with Dr. Samuel Woodward ; practiced in Wooster, 
0., and was for some time judge of a high court in that 
State. 

"Not Elias, as given by mistake on p. 11. 



79 

GrAYLORD G. BissELL, SOU of Roderick and Fanny G-aylord 
Bissell, was born, February 13, 1824 ; studied with Dr. Beck- 
with, of Litchfield ; practiced at Bethlehem, Conn., and after- 
wards spent seven years in the Rocky Mountains ; was judge 
of a high court in Montana, and for a considerable time was 
mayor of Virginia City, Montana ; is now practicing at Lovil- 
lia, Iowa. 

Charles R, Bissell, son of Roderick and Fanny G-aylord 
Bissell, born. May 18, 1881 ; studied with his brother at Beth- 
lehem ; began practice in Berkshire county, Mass. ; went to 
Colorado, Rocky Mountains, where he was for some time 
judge ; was one year auditor of the State, and is now living 
in Central City, Colorado. 

Elisha Clark, son of Abel Clark, studied with Dr. Samuel 
Woodward, and had nearly completed his course, when he 
was taken away by consumption, in 1810. 

. Erskine Curtis, son of Truman and Wealthy Parsons Cur- 
tis, studied with Dr. Harvey B. Steele, of Winsted, and is now 
practicing in New Hartford. 

Samuel Fyler, son of Ulysses Fyler, born Feb. 11, 1782 ; 
studied with Dr. Samuel Woodward ; commenced practice at 
Hilton Head, S. C, and died there, aged 39. 

Horace C. Gillett, son of Horace and Rachel Austin Gil- 
lett, born in 1806 ; studied with Dr. Charles Woodward ; be- 
gan practice in South Windsor about 1828 ; subsequently left 
the ])rofession, and is now living in Chicago. 

Augustine Hayden, son of Capt. xiugustine and Cynthia 
F?/?erHayden, born, Sept. 28, 1770 ; studied with Dr. Aberne- 
thy, of Harwinton ; practiced in Chatham, N. Y. ; died at the 
residence of his son in Franklinville, N. Y., March 28, 1838, 
aged 68. He continued in practice until his constitution 
failed, and was often called in consultation after that. 

Samuel Hayden, son of Captain Augustine and Cynthia 
Fyler Hayden, born in 1772, studied in Yale college, but was 



80 

not graduated. It is believed that he studied medicine with 
Dr. Moses Hayden, of Conway, Mass. He commenced prac- 
tice in Windham, Pa., became eminent, was mucli sought for 
counsel, and followed the profession until disabled by the in- 
firmities of age. 

Erasmus D. Hudson, son of Daniel Coe Hudson ; studied 
with Dr. Fowler ; practiced in Bloomfield, and afterwards in 
Torringford, where he also taught a private school ; was some 
time employed as an anti-slavery lecturer ; and is now engaged 
in the manufacture of artificial limbs in New York city. 

Philander P. Humpheey, son of Daniel G. and Eliza Burr 
Humphrey, born about 1822, studied with Dr. Hubbard, of 
New Hartford, and after some practice in New England, moved 
to St. Paul's, Minnesota, near which place he and all his fam- 
ily, except one son, were murdered by the Indians in the mas- 
sacre of 1862. 

Elijah Lyman, son of David and Mary Broivn Lyman, born, 
August 16, 1773 ; studied with Dr. Samuel Woodward, and 
practiced in Torrington ; was chosen deacon of the church in 
that place in 1813, and died, November 5, 1819, aged 46. 

Norman Lyman, son of David and Mary Brown Lyman, 
born, September 6, 1787 ; studied with his brother, Elijah Ly- 
man, and with Dr. Samuel Woodward ; practiced in Glasten- 
bury, 1812-1828, and in Warren the remainder of his life, 
where he died, October 20, 1850, aged 63. He was much es- 
teemed by his medical brethren and the community, and was 
a valuable member of the church. 

WiLLARD Miller, son of Deacon Ebenezer and Thankful 
Allen Miller, born, January 1, 1788, studied with Dr. Samuel 
Woodward, settled at Vernon, N. Y., and died of fever at Johns- 
town, N. Y., May 11, 1825, aged 25 — where he had gone to 
visit a young lady to whom he was engaged. 

Allen G. Miller, born, October 31, 1794, brother of Willard 
Miller, studied with Dr. Samuel Woodward and Dr. Abernethy, 
of Harwinton, settled in Mansfield, 0., and died, July 30, 
1849, aged 55. 



81 

Gaylord B. Miller, son of Deacon Ebenezer and Thankful 
Allen Miller, born, May 1, 1797, studied with his brother, Al- 
len G. Miller, practiced with him in Mansfield, 0., and died, 
July 18, 1828, aged 31. 

Gaylord B. Miller, son of Deacon Thomas A. and Mary 
C. Hudson Miller, born, July 4, 1831, studied with Dr. James 
Welch, of Winsted, and attended lectures at Woodstock, Yt., 
Ann Arbor, Mich., and Pittsfield, Mass.; commenced practice 
in Harwinton in January, 1852, and moved to Grand Rapids, 
Mich., in January, 1864, where he now lives. 

Hiram Watson, son of Thomas and Melesent Wetmore 
Watson, was born, January 21, 1802; attended lectures at 
Harvard University in 1825; studied with Dr. Charles Wood- 
ward; practiced in East Windsor, Conn., until June, 1854, 
when he moved to New York city, where he resided until Oc- 
tober, 1856, when he moved to Detroit, Mich., where he now 
lives, and is engaged in the manufacture of vinegar, and in 
dealing in western lands. Watson Genealogy, page 29. 

Samuel Bayard Woodward, son of Dr. Samuel and Mary 
Griswold Woodward, was born, June 10, 1787 ; studied with 
his father, practiced for a year or two in Torringford, and set- 
tled in Wethersfield in 1808, where he practiced about twenty 
years. His office was the greatest resort in that vicinity for 
young men who wished to enter the profession. He had a 
prominent instrumentality in securing the establishment, in 
1820, of the Retreat for the Insane; was a member of the 
State senate from the first district in 1832 ; was one of the 
examiners of the Medical School in New Haven ; was superin- 
tendent of the State Lunatic Asylum at Worcester, Mass., 
from September, 1832 till June, 1846, when he resigned on 
account of ill health, and moved to Northampton, where he 
died, January 3,.1850, aged 63. While at Worcester, he pro- 
jected an asylum for inebriates, and had an influential part in 
the formation of the Massachusetts School for Idiotic Youth. 
The Trustees of the institution at Worcester say of him: 
" He was one of the first in the country to introduce the mild 
and humane treatment of the insane, which is now generally 



adopted ; and his annual reports showed a proportion of re- 
coveries which was formerly without precedent in the records 
of medical science." "His education, his experience on the 
subject of insanity, his ardent temperament, his business hab- 
its, his knowledge of men, his benevolent spirit, his habit of 
looking upon the bright side of human nature, his presence, 
and his noble personal appearance — all conspired to sustain 
and carry him successfully through an undertaking beset with 
manifold difficulties." "Few men enjoyed so large a share of 
public confidence and private esteem." He is spoken of as 
one " who has done the State that adopted him imperishable 
honor." In the asylum at Worcester are to be found his por- 
trait, and a marble bust of him costing 8700. 

His annual reports were ftill, and were widely circulated, 
and highly commended in this country and in Europe. He 
contributed much for medical magazines on medical subjects 
and on the biography of physicians. He published a little 
volume of " Hints to the Young," and also an essay on " The 
Fruits of New England." 

Allen; Address of Pliny Earle, M. D., Superintendent of 
State Hospital for the Insane, at Northampton, Mass., at the 
laying of the corner-stone of the General Hospital for the In- 
sane of the State of Connecticut, June 20, 1867, page 5 ; 18th 
Annual Report of the Trustees of the State Lunatic Asylum, 
at Worcester, December, 1850; Judge Church's Address in 
Litchfield County Centennial, page 62. 

Elijah Woodward, son of Dr. Samuel and Mary Griswold 
Woodward, born in 1789, studied with his father, and when 
ready to commence practice had a violent hemorrhage from 
the lungs, went down rapidly with consumption, and died in 
1817, aged 28. 

Henry Woodward, son of Dr. Samuel and Mary Griswold 
Woodward, born in 1795, studied with his father, and with 
his brother, Samuel B. Woodward, with whom he practiced 
three or four years in Wethersfield. He then settled in Mid- 
dletown, and practiced there until he died of consumption in 
1832, aged 37. He represented Middletown in the legislature 



in 1830 and 1831, and for the time he was in practice, had a 
liigh reputation in his profession. 

Charles Woodward, son of Dr. Samuel and Mary Crrtswold 
Woodward, born in 1798, studied with his father and with his 
brother, Samuel B. Woodward, and began practice in 1822 in 
Windsor; moved to Middletown in 1832, where he is still in 
practice, in the seventy-first year of his age ; was elected vice- 
president of the Connecticut Medical Society in 1866, and 
president in 1867 ; was a member of the State senate in 1841 : 
represented Middletown in the legislature in 1839, 1847, and 
1857 ; and has made some addresses, reports to the legislature, 
and speeches, which have been published. 

The Revival op 1798-1799. 
This account is copied from pages 27-30 of the first number 
of the first volume of the Connecticut Evangelical Magazine, 
published at Hartford in July, 1800, and is in the form of a 
letter to the editors. 

"Torringford, Litchfield County. 
Gentlemen : 

In the latter end of August, 1798, unusual religious appear- 
ances commenced in this place, especially among the young 
people. They met weekly by themselves. Their number con- 
stantly increased, until it was found that a private room would 
not contain them. They then repaired to the meeting-house, 
where they prayed, sang, and conversed on religious subjects. 
An event so extraordinary excited a spirit of general inquiry 
throughout the society, and several weeks, and even months 
passed away, while as yet one was scarce able to decide 
whether any very deep or powerful impressions were on their 
minds or not, unless in a very few instances. In the meantime 
an unusual solemnity appeared on the countenances of the 
people in general. And those who, antecedently to all this, 
bad been much in prayer to God for a day of his divine power, 
"thanked God and took courage." Of course, conference 
meetings of a more general nature were appointed, and crowds 
were wont to assemble at such seasons. Thus things passed 
on, with but few instances of hopeful conversions, until about 



84 

the middle of the following winter. While our hopes and our 
fears had thus long been very sensibly excited by turns, as 
appearances varied, at this memorable period, it pleased the 
Great Head of the church, in a very peculiar manner, to 
show forth his presence and power in the midst of the people. 
So extraordinary a season for weeks, and we may say for 
months, we never witnessed. An answer to the inquiry 
whether the Lord was indeed among us or not, was now at- 
tended with no difficulty. The minds of many were greatly 
agitated, and unusual attention was paid to means of instruc- 
tion. In the time of this extraordinary visitation, a goodly 
number of the people obtained hope of their reconciliation to 
God. 

Having made this general statement, I shall now descend to 
some particular observations. 

I. It is worthy of particular notice, that the work has been 
carried on with remarkable regularity. Little or nothing has 
been discovered of wild enthusiasm or disorder. The subjects 
of the work have been as able and ready in any stage of it, to 
inform of the ground of their distress, as a patient to tell 
what part of his body was in pain. This, perhaps, may account 
for it, in a measure, that there has been so little open opposition 
to the work. Such as wished to censure and reproach it, were 
confounded. It may be observed — 

II. As to the nature of the work, that it has been such, in 
the course and issue of it, as wonderfully to display divine 
power and grace, and to bring out to view the human heart. 
The subjects of it, in the first stages of their concern, have 
generally been filled with surprise and astonishment at them- 
selves and their past lives; and seeing themselves in danger, 
have formed resolutions, and entered on measures to amend 
their situation. When led to a more full discovery of their 
own hearts, and to an increasing conviction of the impossibil- 
ity of ever obtaining relief in their own way, they have felt 
very sensibly disturbed. They have been ready to plead in 
their own defense, while they dared to do it, that they could 
do no more than they could — that they never made their own 
hearts — and that it was out of their power to change them. 



8.") 

They liave contended also against God for showing mercy to 
others, while they were left — and even for giving them exist- 
ence. But as their convictions increased, they became sensi- 
ble of the dreadful obstinacy of their own hearts, and found 
themselves growing worse and worse, till finally all hope dis- 
appeared, except what arose from the sovereign grace of God 
— from the consideration that he could, and that he would, 
have mercy on whom he would have mercy. They found 
their hearts so much opposed to God, to his law, and to the 
gospel, as to see that nothing short of divine power could ever 
subdue them. In the midst of all this, their proud and obsti- 
nate spirits would rise against that very sovereign grace which 
secured them from utter despair, and contained their only re- 
maining hope of escaping divine wrath. But no sooner were 
they led to a discovery of the justice of God in their condem- 
nation — to see and to feel that the law was right and holy, and 
hell their proper place — than they found their mouths shut, 
and their complaints at an end. They have readily acknowl- 
edged that God would be glorious in executing sentence against 
them. Thus have they been brought to resign themselves 
cheerfully, without any reserve, into the hands of God, to be 
disposed of as may be most for his glory — rejoicing that they 
were, and might be, in the hands of such a holy, just, and 
wise God, let their future situation be what it might. There 
have been among them such like expressions as these — 'The 
character of God has appeared inexpressibly beautiful, even 
in the view of his pronouncing sentence against me;' 'I wish 
that others might praise God, though I should perish.' 

It has been no uncommon thing for the subjects of the 
work, whose chiel distress and anxiety antecedently arose from 
a sense of their being in the hands of God, unexpectedly to 
find themselves rejoicing in that very consideration — contem- 
plating the glory and happiness of God as an object of higher 
consequence, and more precious, than their own personal sal- 
vation ; and all this, while as yet they have had no idea of hav- 
ing experienced any saving change of heart. They have in 
various instances apparently rejoiced in God's supi'emacy, and 
in being at his disposal, calmly leaving their case to his wise 
12 



86 

and holy decision, and have conversed in a language to which 
they never before were accustomed, and have gained the fa- 
vorable opinion of others, while they have had no such thouglit 
respecting themselves. Instead of this, jealousies have often 
been excited in their minds, on finding themselves so calm 
and peaceful, that God had left them — that their concern was 
over, and have wished it to return again. And when at length, 
reflecting on their views and feelings, or by conversing with 
others, they have ventured to entertain some feeble hope about 
themselves, it has been in various instances of short-continu 
ance. Within tlie course of a few days, or perhaps a shorter 
period, they have had such an overwhelming sense of the ex- 
treme sinfulness and corruption of their own hearts, as to be 
ready to conclude it to be utterly impossible that they should 
have any grace. This may account for a remark frequently 
made by themselves, and circulated by others, that they had 
given up their hope. 

In consequence of becoming reconciled to the divine char- 
acter, law, and sovereignty, to which before they were so much 
opposed, the character and work of Christ have been wont to 
appear unspeakably glorious and beautiful, as magnifying the 
divine law, and opening a way for the acceptance of sinners 
in such a manner as glorifies God, and exalts the grace and 
work of Christ, and lays them prostrate at his feet; 

The great and essential difference between their former and 
present views and feelings, has very sensibly affected their own 
minds as well as the minds of others, especially in those in- 
stances in which they had antecedently distinguished them- 
selves by their opposition to the doctrines of decrees, divine 
sovereignty, the absolute dependence of the creature on God, 
and his viniversal providence, and the duties of unconditional 
submission and disinterested affection. To find themselves 
now attached to those very doctrines and duties, and lament- 
ing their former blindness, has served to excite peculiar admi- 
ration and gratitude. 

III. It may, perhaps, be proper to notice, that the Great 
Head of the church has by no means confined himself in the 
display of his grace to persons of any particular rank or age. 



87 

Children and young people of both sexes, and lieads of fami- 
lies of different ages, and, in one or two instances, such as 
were far advanced in life, are among the number who hope, 
though once they were blind, that now they see. The impres- 
sions were such on the minds of the children, in different 
schools, as led them to lay aside their customary diversions, 
and sometimes to pass their intermissions in prayer, reading, 
or religious conversation among themselves. Such as were 
capable, requested it as a privilege that they might be allowed 
at school to read in their Bibles. Several of the scholars ob- 
tained hope respecting themselves, some under twelve years of 
age, but the greatest number between twelve and eighteen. 

IV. The uniformity every where observable as to the views 
and exercises of the subjects of the work, is a circumstance 
particularly to be noticed, both antecedent to their obtaining 
relief as well as afterwards. Most generally, let any person 
become informed in respect to a single instance, of the views 
and feelings of a sinner under concern, and of his consequent 
exercises and different views and apprehensions, and he would 
for substance learn what others could say. The same excuses, 
pleas, cavils, and objections, against the doctrines and precepts 
of the gospel while under conviction, and the same kind of 
submission, when brought to a cheerful surrendry of them- 
selves to God, wliich were found in one case were to be looked 
for in another. To find persons who never conversed, one 
with the. other, communicating the same ideas, has been very 
striking to many. And it ought to be particularly observed 
here, that this is not the case merely in neighborhoods or so- 
cieties, but in distant and different quarters, wherever the work 
has spread, amongst those who never saw nor heard of each 
other. The observations already made respecting the nature 
of the work in this society, apply with equal truth to other so- 
cieties, so far as can be known, both far and near. All are 
made to drink into one spirit, and to speak one language. 
After all — 

V. It is by no means pretended that the wheat is wholly 
free from a mixture of tares, or that all who entertain hope 
of themselves are really friends to Christ. The parable of the 



88 

sower may doubtless be applied in a greater or less degree ; 
and it is to be feared that more or less will finally wither away. 
Sufficient to such a day is the evil thereof. It is very gratify- 
ing to the friends of Zion that there are so few instances of 
this nature, where apparent evidence of a change of heart has 
been exhibited. One observation farther. 

VI. It is conceived, and it is thought no more than proper 
to acknowledge it, that the measures which have been adopted 
by the State for the spread of the gospel — the address from the 
General Assembly, recommending a more careful observation 
of the Sabbath — the regulations respecting schools — together 
with various late publications — have been employed under 
Providence to promote and spread this great and glorious work 
which God hath already wrought, and is still accomplishing. 
Yours, Samuel J. Mills." 

The Deacons op the Church. 

Jonathan Kelsey, died in 1792, aged 89. 

Nehemiah Gaylord, died in 1801, aged 80. 

Abraham Filley. 

Ebenezer Miller, died in 1814, aged 79. 

Job Curtis, died in 1807, aged 62 

Ebenezer Miller, 2d, son of Dea. Ebenezer Miller, appointed 
in 1807, died in 1842, aged 78. 

Elizur Curtis, son of Dea Job Curtis, appointed in 1808, 
resigned in 1843, died in 1868, aged 85. 

Ebenezer Rood, son of Ebenezer Rood, appointed in 1826, 
resigned in 1843, died in 1851, aged 75. 

Thomas Watson, son of Thomas Watson, appointed in 
1843, resigned in 1855, and moved to West Winsted, where 
he is now deacon. 

Thomas A. Miller, son of Deacon Ebenezer Miller, 2d, ap- 
pointed in 1843, died in 1861, aged 55. 

Harvey L. Rood, son of Dea. Ebenezer Rood, appointed in 
1855. 

William Watson, son of Alvan Watson, appointed in ISGI. 



89 



Statistics of Church Membership foii 1847 — 1869, show- 
ing THE Number of Members reported on the first of 
January, and the Changes, Baptisms and Charities 
during the Year. 





MEMBERS JAN. 1. 


ADDED. 




REMOVED 




BAPT. 


CHARITIES OF 


























THE CH. AND 




Mai. 


Fem. 


Tot. Ab. 


Prof. 


Let. 


Tot. 


Dth. 


Dis. 


Ex. 


Tot 


Ad. 


Inf. 


cong'tion. 


1847 


70 


101 


171! 49 


2 


7 


9 


3 


14 


2 


19 


1 


4 


$326.09 


1848 


66 


95 


161 31 


1 


5 


6 


4 


10 


3 


17 


1 


1 


350.00 


1849 


59 


89 


148 19 


16 


1 


17 


2 


5 


2 


9 


8 


3 


420.40 


1850 


65 


95 


160: 25 


2 


2 


4 


2 


14 


1 


17 





5 


501.57 


1851 


68 


82 


1501 22 


6 


6 


12 


5 


9 


1 


15 


2 





467.75 


1852 


58 


89 


147 19 





1 


1 


1 


2 


1 


4 





11 


478.42 


1853 


57 


87 


144' 24 





(1 





3 


4 


1 


S 





4 


620.88 


1854 


54 


83 


137| 27 











4 


4 





8 





3 


545.40 


1855 


49 


80 


129 24 





3 


3 


1 


5 


1 


7 








337.63 


1856 


46 


79 


125 21 


1 


1 


2 


3 








3 





4 


470.28 


1857 


47 


76 


123 22 


2 


3 


5 


1 








1 


2 


4 


273.97 


1858 


47 


79 


126 25 


29 


6 


35 


2 


1 





3 


11 


6 


428.37 


1859 


61 


99 


160, 28 


2 





2 


2 


8 


1 


11 





1 


400.00 


1860 


62 


87 


149 26 


1 


3 


4 


2 


3 





5 


1 


2 


464.71 


1861 


56 


92 


148 27 





1 


1 


5 


1 





6 





3 


410.31 


1862 


56 


89 


145 27 


1 


1 


2 


2 


2 





4 





1 


397.00 


1863 


55 


88 


143i 31 











6 


2 





8 





1 


196.50 


1864 


54 


82 


136* 30 











2 








2 








391.00 


1865 


47 


78 


125 29 





2 


9 


1 


4 





5 





4 


351.27 


1866 


47 


73 


120| 15 


5 


4 


9 


3 


4 





7 





3 


394.75 


1867 


48 


77 


125; 25 


19 





19 


1 


2 





3 


6 


2 


350.25 


1868 


53 


88 


141 23 


6 


1 


7 


4 


6 


9 


19 


8 


5 


335.50 


1869 


45 


82 


127 8 


1 





1 


1 


2 





3 





1 


335.00 








1 


94 


47 


141 


60 


102 


22 


184 


40 


68 


$9,147.05 



CATALOGUE OF THE CHURCH m TORRINGFORD. 



It is probable that a complete list of all who have ever been mem- 
bers of this church, would contain about one hundred and twenty-five 
more names than are here recorded ; but some of these omitted names 
are lost, and others are not accompanied with such evidence of mem- 
bership as will warrant adding them to the roll. 

Explanations. P. signifies profession; L., letter; D., death; 
W. W., watch withdrawn ; Ex., excommunication ; and a star, that 
the person is no longer known as a member of this church, though 
the records do not show when nor how the removal occurred. That 
part of the name of a wife or widow, which is in Italics, gives her 
family name before the marriage. 

This list extends to and includes Sunday, Jan. 2, 1870, and em- 
braces the names of 176 males and 303 females ; total, 479. 

MEMBERS. 

Admitted. 
When. How. 

1848 P. Adams, Mary, 

Addis, Orphenia S. Gross, wife of Geo. T. 
Addis, 
1843 P. Andrews, Emory A., 
1818 P. Austin, Nathaniel, 

Austin, Anna, his wife, 
1779 Austin, Margaret Mills, his 2d wife, 

1818 P. Austin, Lewis, 
1818 P. Austin, Rebecca, 

1858 L. Bailey, Tamisen Blood, widow of Randall 

Bailey. 
Bancroft, Juliette K. ZTwrfson, wife of John T. L. 1844 

Bancroft, 
Barber, John, D. 1887 

Barber, Ursula Catlin, his wife, D. 1841 



Removed. 


How 


. n'Tien. 


L. 


1850 


L. 


1849 


iV. W. 


1868 


L. 


1828 


D. 




L. 


1828 


L. 


1828 


L. 


1828 



90 



1832 


P. 


1821 


P. 


1851 


P. 


1851 


P. 


1843 


P. 


1845 


L. 


1849 


P. 


1851 


L. 


1849 


P. 


1867 


P. 


1849 


P. 


1843 


P. 



1843 P. 
1831 P. 



P. 
P. 



1818 
1818 
1843 P. 
1858 P. 



1861 L. 

1827 P. 

1858 P. 

1844 L. 

1867 P. 

1870 P. 



1832 P. 



Barber, John Catlin. 

Barber, Sarah Miller, his wife. 

Barber, Chester. 

Barber, Marilla Blrge, his wife, 

Barber, Cliester Hopkins. 

Barber, Maria E. Blake, his wife. 

Barber, Willard Osgar. 

Barber, Sarah Birge, his wife, 

Barber, Mary Ellen Woodward, his 2cl wife. 

Barber, Sarah B. 

Barber, Janette S. Birge, wife of Horace 
W. Barber, 

Bates, Mary Louisa Taylor, wife of Admatha 
Bates, 

Battell, William, 

Battell, Sarah Buckingham, his wife. 

Beach, Lucy Walling, wife of Ebenezer Beach 

Benedict, Lucina L., 

Birge, Sally Barber, wife of Aranda Birge, 

Birge, Simeon, 

Birge, Experience Hamlin, his wife, 

Birge, Sally, 

Birge, Luther, 

Birge, Roswell. 

Bii'ge, Allstyne M. 

Birge, Eliza M. Heioitt, his wife. 

Birge, Nathaniel. 

Birge, Martha Ann. 

Birge, Sally Barber, wife of George Birge. 

Birge, Celia M. 

Birge, Julia Waterman, wife of Wilbur F. 

Birge. 
Bissell, Ezekiel, 

Bissell, Ruth Devotion, his wife, 
Bissell, Ezekiel, 2d, 
Bissell, Lucretia Spencer, his wife, 
Bissell, Rhoda Bissell, widow of Elisha Bissell, D 
Bissell, Charlotte Birge, widow of Pelatiah 

Bissell, D. 

Bissell, Peter Mills, L. 

Bissell, Sarah Comstock, his wife, L. 



D. 18 52 



D. 1853 



1850 



L. 


1846 


D. 


1832 


D. 


1806 


L. 


1839 


L. 


1850 


D. 


1812 


D. 


1854 


D. 


1844 


L. 




L. 





D. 


1783 


D. 


1802 


D. 


1834 


D. 


1833 


D. 


1843 



1863 



1837 


P. 


1851 


P. 


1844 


P. 


1859 


P. 


1859 


P. 


1849 


P. 


1866 


P. 


1848 


L. 


1858 


P, 


1858 


P 



91 

1851 L. Bissell, Harriette Curtis, wife of Lucius E. 

Bissell, L. 1869 

Bissell, Melesent Watson, wife of Edward 

Bissell, L. 

Bissell, Mary S., L. 1850 

Bissell, Lucius, L. 1866 

Bissell, Sarah Patton, his wife, L. 1866 

Bissell, Roderick. 
Bissell, Fanny Gaylord, his wife. 
Bissell, Esther Ann. 
Blakeslee, Martha E. 
Brace, Mary Ann Loomis, widow of Hezekiah 

Brace, L. 

Brace, Ellen Ann, * 

Bronson, Charlotte Ann Pond, wife of Nathan 

S. Bronson, L. 1861 

1843 P. Bronson, Mary Jane Bissell, wife of Merritt 

Bronson, L. 1860 

Burr, Tabitha Zoomw, wife of John Burr, D. 1828 
BuiT, Mehetabel Loomis, wife of Reuben Burr, D. 1793 
Burr, Martha Beach, his 2d wife, D. 1835 

1822 P. Burr, Fanny Taylor, 2d wife of Uriel Burr. 

1858 P. Burr, Uri Curtis. 

1843 P. Burr, Sarah Mix, his wife. 

1849 P. Burr, Lucius. 

1851 P. Burr, Sarah Jane Woodruff, his wife. 

1867 P. Burr, George A. 

1867 P. Burr, Mary Adelaide. 

1835 P. Burr, Milo. 

1826 L. Burr, Mary Skinner, his wife, D. 1864 

1858 P. Burr, Lavinia E. Hurlbut, wife of John Milo 
Burr. 

1835 P. Burr, Hiram, 

L. Burr, Almira Cook,*h.\s, wife, 

1867 P. Burr, F. Ella. 

1831 P. Burr, Rufus, 

1821 P. Burr, Ann S. Hudson, his wife, 

1847 L. Burr, Alonzo, 

1849 P. Burr, Franklin, 

1841 L. Burwell, Ellis, 



L. 


1851 


D. 


1850 


D. 


1863 


L. 




Ex. 


1851 


W.W. 


1859 


L. 


1843 



1816 


P. 


1817 


P. 


1831 


P. 


1831 


P. 


1858 


P. 


1858 


P. 


1868 


P. 


1816 


L. 


1851 


L. 


1849 


P. 



L. 




D. 


1853 


D. 


1842 


L. 




L. 




D. 


1860 


L. 


1848 


Ex. 


1847 


Ex. 


1847 


., L. 


1847 


L. 


1847 


L. 




D. 


1848 


D. 


1860 


W. W. 


1850 



92 

1849 P. Calkins, Jane A. Birge, wife of Stephen E. 
Calkins, 
Can-, Clement, 

Can-, Jedidah Pellon, his wife, 

Clark, Converse, 

Clark, Alraira Burr, his wife, 
1858 P. Cleaveland, Sarah J. Taylor, wife of George 

Cleaveland, 
1838 L. Cleveland, Mary, 
1837 L. Cleveland, James C, 
1837 P. Cleveland, Lucy C. Watson, his wife 
1867 P. Cleveland, John Robert McDowell. 

Coe, Caroline Brown, wife of Sylvester Coe, 
1843 P. Coe, Julia E., 

Collier, Henry, 

Colt, Anson, 

Colt, Chloe Gillett, his widow, 

Colt, Anson, 2d, 

Colt, Henry. 

Colt, Chloe Gatlin, his wife. 

Colt, George K. 

Colt, Margarette E. Griswold, his wife. 

Colt, Luman. 

Cook, Louisa ^M??er, wife of Luther Cook, L. 1859 

Cook, Jane M. Hand, wife of Charles N. Cook. 

Cross, Ann, W. W. 1868 

Curtis, Job, Deacon, D. 1807 

Curtis, Eunice Cowles, his wife, D. 1804 

1799 P. Curtis, Elizur, Deacon, D. 1868 

Curtis, Naomi Kellogg, his wife, D. 1804 

Curtis, Amanda Steele, his 2d wife, D. 1863 

Curtis, Naomi K., L. 1839 

Curtis, Julius, L. 1839 

Curtis, Lucius, Rev., ' L. 1843 

Curtis, Hermon. 

Curtis, Sophia Stillman, his wife, D. 1851 

Curtis, C. Cecilia Stillman, his 2d Avife. 

Curtis, Eugenia Sophia, 

Curtis, Uri, 

Curtis, Mary Adams, his widow, 

Curtis, Rufus, 



1805 


L. 




P. 




P. 




P. 


1851 


P. 


1834 


L. 


1852 


L. 


1850 


P. 


1801 


P. 


1817 


L. 


1818 


P. 



D. 


1857 


D. 


1854 


L. 


1855 


D. 





Ex. 


1852 


D. 


1868 


Ex. 


1848 



93 

Curtis, Ursula Fowler, his wife, * 

Curtis, Jabez Gillett, D. 1848 

Curtis, Louisa IFe^more, his wife, L. 1850 

1 803 P. Curtis, Hannah Drake, widow of Zebulon Curtis, D. 1 85 1 
Curtis, Wealthy Par sons, vfi^e. of Truman Curtis, D. 1838 

1847 L. Curtis, Emily Cornish, his widow. 

1855 L. Curtis, Hezekiah P. 

1855 L. Curtis, Amelia Parsons, his Avife. 

1866 P. Curtis, Ella A. 

1843 P. Daily, Harmon, 

1860 L. Daily, Merc-y L. Ball, his widow, 

1843 P. Daily, Ellen E. Bailey, wife of Wm. Daily, 

1834 P. Daniels, Sarah R. Talmadge, Avife of Caleb 

F. Daniels, L. 1866 

1867 P. Daniels, Louisa. 

Deming, Abigail Loomis, wife of George 

Deming, L. 1842 

1858 P. Downs, Edwin, W.W. 1868 

Durand, Julia G. D. 1842 

1843 P. Durand, William. 
1827 P. Durand, Loanna P. Barber, his wife. 

1858 L. Eggleston, Mary E. ii^ryc^ew, wife of Augustus 
Eggleston. 

1858 P. Eggleston, Cynthia A. 

1858 P. Eggleston, Sophia D. 

Ellsworth, John, D. 1848 

Ellsworth, Anna Birge, his wife, D. 1828 

Ellsworth, Philander, Ex. 1848 

Elmer, Abiathar, D. 1829 

Elmer, Kezia Bissell, his wife, D. 

1835 P. Elmer, Peleg, D. 1869 
1842 L. Emerson, Catharine Brown, wife of Rev. 

Brown Emerson, L. 

1869 P. Engert, Louisa. 

1855 L. Fenn, Sarah Roberts, wife of Rev. Stephen 

Fenn, L. 1859 

Filley, Abraham, Deacon, D. 

1831 P. Fogg, Sophia C. Hayden, wife of Rev. (ieo. 

W.Fogg, L. 1851 

13 



94 

1843 F. Foote, Jane E. Humphrey, v!\^e of John C. Foote. 

Freeman, Mary, wife of Harry Freeman, D. 

1858 P. Freeman, Edward H., L. 1862 

Frisbie, John, D. 

Fyler, Sybil, W. W. 1848 



1833 P. 
1838 L. 
1848. L. 
1867 P. 
1867 P. 



1867 P. 



1826 


P. 


1826 


P. 


1834 


P. 


1857 


L. 


1843 


P. 


1866 


P. 


1866 


P. 



Gaylord, Nehemiah, Deacon, 

Gaylord, Lucy Loo mis, his wife, 

Gaylord, Joseph, 

Gaylord, Ruth Blssell, his widow, 

Gaylord, Elijah, 

Gaylord, Margaret Taylor, his wife, 

Gaylord, Margaret Bissell, his widow, 

Gaylord, Giles L. 

Gaylord, Pamela Preston, his wife, 

Gaylord, Sarah Blake, his 2d wife. 

Gaylord, Hubert L. 

Gaylord, Mary L. 

Gaylord, Nancy, 

Gibbs, Abigail W. Hudson, wife of Eber N. 

Gibbs, 
Gillett, Anna Loomis, wife of Jabez Gillett, 
Gillett, Loraine Filley, his 2d wife, 
Gillett, Horace, 

Gillett, Rachel Austin, his wife, 
Gillett, Betsey, 
Goodwin, Harvey, 
Goodwin, Sarah M. 

Gould, Rhoda Mc Coe, wife of Joseph Gould, 
Griswold, Laura Barber, 2d wife of Norman 

Griswold, 
Griswold, Jane Woodford, his 3d wife, 
Griswold, Thaddeus, 
Griswold, Margaret Gaylord, his widow. 
Griswold, Julia A. Curtis, wife of Richard 

W. Griswold, 
Griswold, Sarah Clark, his 2d wife. 
Griswold, Isabella Kellogg, wife of Stanley 

Griswold. 
Griswold, Isabella W. 
Griswold, Anna M. 



D. 


1801 


D. 


1800 


D. 


1821 


D. 


1827 


D. 


1797 


D. 


1789 


D. 


1840 



D. 1846 



D. 



L. 


1841 


D. 


1795 


D. 


1818 


L. 


1848 


L. 


1848 


D. 


1833 


L. 


1847 



1847 



D. 


1840 


L. 


1843 


D. 


1854 



D. 1856 



95 



1867 P. 



1841 P. 



Griswold, Nellie P. 

Gross, Sally Ellsivorth, widow of Israel Gross, L. 1 849 
Gross, Harvey H., . L. 1839 

Gulliver, Fannie W. Curtis, wife of Rev. John 

P. Gulliver, D. D., L. 1846 



1827 


P. 


1868 


P. 


1858 


P. 


1834 


P. 


1866 


P. 




P. 


1831 


P. 


1831 


P. 


1831 


P. 


1843 


P. 


1868 


P, 



1868 
1827 



1865 L. 

1857 L. 

1857 L. 

1870 P. 



1816 P. 



Hall, Gideon, 

Harrison, Richard. 

Hart, Jane Tattle, widow of Salmon Hart, 

Hathaway, Mary E. Curtis, widow of .Tared 

Hathaway. 
Hathaway, Anna F. 
Hayden, Augustine, 
Hayden, Cicero, 

Hayden, Sophia Squires, his wife, 
Hayden, TuUius C, 
Hayden, William Henry, 
Hayden, Chai'les H. 
Henderson, Ruth Mather, widow of James 

Henderson, 
Henderson, Caroline M. Gillett, widow of 

Charles N. Henderson, 
Hewitt, Alice M. 
Holcomb, James H., 
Hotchkiss, Laura N., 
Hopkins, Anna Palmer, widow of Seymour 

Hopkins.- 
Hopkins, Harvey P. 
Hopkins, Lydia Tanner, his wife. 
Hopkins, (jrcrtrude Waterman, wife of Edward 

Hopkins. 
Hudson, Daniel, 
Hndson, Mary Coe, his wife, 
Hudson, Abigail Watson, his 2d wife, 
Hudson, Daniel Coe, 
Hudson, Rhoda Fowler, his wife, 
Hudson, Erasmus D., Dr., 
Hudson, Martha Turner, his wife, 
Hudson, Charlotte, 
Hudson, Barzillai, 



D. 


1824 


L. 


1851 


L. 


1851 


L. 


1851 


L. 


1851 


L. 


1841 


L, 


1848 


L. 




D. 





D. 


1884 


L. 


1838 


L. 


1838 


Ex. 


1849 


Ex. 


1849 


L. 


1838 


D. 


18.58 



1816 


P. 


1836 


P. 


1843 


P. 


1858 


P. 


1858 


P. 


1858 


P. 


1866 


L. 



D. 


1856 


* 




D. 


1831 


D. 


1835 


D. 


1858 


L. 


1854 


\V. ^Y. 


, 1868 


L. 




L. 




L. 


1858 



96 

1816 P. Hudson, Content Picket, his wife, 
Humaston, Esther, 
Humphrey, Daniel G., 
Humphrey, Lucretia JUno, his widow, 
Humphrey, Daniel G. 2d, 
Humphrey, Philander P., Dr., 
Humphrey, Charles G., 
Humphrey, James D., 
Humphrey, Chloe Watson, his wife, 
Humphrey, Henry B. Stanton, 
Humphrey, Dorothy Miller, wife of George 

Humphrey. 
Hungerford, Charlotte Austin, widow of John 

Hungerford, L. 

Hurlbut, Leonard, Ex. 1853 

Ingraham, Louisa, D. 

1831 P. Johnson, Levi Freeman. 

1831 P. Johnson, Maria Moms, his wife. 

Johnson, Daniel, L. 1842 

1849 P. Johnson, Jarvis B. 
1849 P. Johnson, Elizabeth Bill, his wife. 

1862 P. Johnson, Sarah E., D. 1866 

1867 P. Johnson, Levi B. 
1867 P. Johnson, Emily A. 
1867 P. Johnson, Julia A. 

Jones, Nancy Johnson, wife of James Jones, D. 1840 

Kelsey, Jonathan, Deacon, D. 1792 

1860 P. Lepian, Jane, D. 1862 

Loomis, Hephzibah, D. 1786 

Loomis, Sally Burr, wife of Asa Loomis, L. 

Loomis, Fitch, D. 1822 

Loomis, Mary Bissell, his widow, D. 1843 

Loomis, Michael, D. 

Loomis, Huldah Loomis, his wife, D. 

Loomis, Allen, D. 1841 

1810 P. Loomis, Mary Reed, his widow, D. 1853 



97 



1818 P. Loomis, Aurelia, 
Loomis, Timothy, 
Loomis, Ann Roberts, his wife, 
Loomis, Hannah Curtis, his widow, 
P. Loomis, Harvey, Rev., 
1826 L. Loomis, Ann Battell, his widow, 

Loomis, Laura Lyman, wife of Emory Loomis. 
Loomis, Timothy 2d, 
1843 P. Loomis, Chloe Rihy, his wife, 

Loomis, Philo A., 
1822 P. Loomis, Mary A. Watson, his wife, 
1836 P. Loomis, Cornelius D., W 

Loomis, Justus, 
P. Lowrey, Martha A. Miller, widoAV of John C. 
Lowrey, 
Lyman, David, 

Lyman, Mary Broxon, his widow, 
Lyman, Elijah, Dr., 
Lyman, Norman, Dr., 
Lyman, Orange, Rev., 
Lyman, John, 

Lyman, Salome Malthy, his widow. 
Lyman, John Bennett. 
Lyman, David Newton, 
Lyman, Sarah E. Stone, his Avife, 
Lyman, John Newton, 
Lyman, Rufus, 

McCoe, Chloe Phelps,w\fe of Patrick McCoe, 
P. McEwen, Sarah Battell, wife of Rev. Abel 
McEwen, D. D., 
1843 P. Marsh, Lydia S. 

Mather, Olive Soper, widow of Richard 

Mather, 
Miller, Ebenezer, Deacon, 
Miller, Thankful Allen, his wife. 
Miller, Loraine Bissell, his widow, 
Miller, Ebenezer, 2d, Deacon, 
Miller, Dorothy Gaylord, his wife, 
1800 P. Miller, Sarah Catlin, his widow, 
1821 P. Miller, Maria. 





P. 




P. 




P. 


1802 


P. 


1802 


P. 


1821 


P. 


1831 


P. 


1843 


L. 


1858 


P. 



L. 




D. 


1832 


D. 


1808 


D. 


1848 


* 




D. 


1861 


L. 


1844 


L. 


1844 


L. 


1850 


L. 


1850 


. W. 


, 1868 


L. 




L. 


1845 


D. 


1813 


D. 


1820 


L. 




L. 




* 




D. 


1865 


L. 


1859 


L. 


1859 


L. 


1859 


L. 


1850 



D. 
D. 
D. 
D. 
D. 
D. 
D. 



1851 



1839 
1814 
1802 
1827 
1842 
1797 
1851 



1827 


P. 


1821 


P. 


1849 


P. 


1847 


P. 


1849 


P. 


1858 


P. 


1862 


L. 


1816 


P. 


1816 


P. 


1842 


L. 


1842 


L. 



D. 


1861 


D. 


1861 


L. 


1853 


L. 


1854 


L. 


1851 


D. 


1861 


D. 


1863 


W. W. 


1848 


W. W. 


1848 



98 

Miller, Thomas A., Deacon, 
Miller, Mary C. Hudson, hi? wife, 
Miller, Gaylord B., Dr., 
Miller, Caroline A. Watson, his wife, 
Miller, John T., 
Miller, Hobart B. 
Miller, Fanny E. Mather, his wife. 
Miller, Henry, 

Miller, Abigail Bristol, his widow, 
Miller, Harry, 
Miller, Jane F. G., his wife, 
Miller, Lntlier, L. 1838 

1867 P. Miller, Harriette L. Hewitt, 2d wife of Lewis 

B. Miller. 
1867 P. Miller, Luther B. 

L. Mills, Esther Robbins, Avife of Rev. Samuel 

J. Mills, 
P. Mills, Florilla, 
1806 P. Mills, Samuel J., 2d, Rev., 
P. Mills, Jeremiah, 
L. Mills, Eleanor Witter, his wife, 
Mills, Laura, 
1843 P. Mills, Electa J. Lyman, wife of Leavitt D. 

Mills, L. 1848 

Miner, Darius D. 

Miner, Mary E. Wadsworth, his wife. 
Miner, Mary Ellen. 

Miner, Charles, D. 1867 

Miner, Martha E. Frost, his widow. 
Miner, John Stanley, 
Miner, Josephine. 
Minturn, Hiram, 

Minturn, Iluldah Coivles, his wife, 
1838 L. Mitchell, Maria Thorburn, wife of David C. 
Mitchell, 
P. Moore, Erasmus Darwin, Rev., 

1847 L. Moore, Mary E. Redjield, wife of Rev. W. 

H. Moore, L. 1854 
1849 P. Moore, Jane Ann North, wife of Elias C. 

Moore, L. 1858 

1848 L. Morse, Catharine Mix, wife of Edward Morse. L. 1849 



D. 


1810 


L. 




D. 


1818 


D. 


1884 


D. 


1833 


L. 


1837 



1847 


L. 


1847 


L. 


1867 


P. 


1858 


L. 


1858 


L. 


1867 


P. 


1868 


P. 



W. W. 


1868 


D. 


1857 


L. 


1853 


L. 


1844 



99 

1858 P. Murray, Warren Brooker. 

Newell, Almira F. Palmer, wife of Henry H. 

Newell, L. 
1858 L. Newman, Elizabeth Goodale, wife of Rev. 

Charles Newman, D. 1863 
1793 P. Nichols, George, * 1797 
1793 P. Nichols, Elizabeth Monro, his wife, * 1797 
1865 L. Noble, Emma P/easa?2^s, wife of Rev. Frank- 
lin Noble, L. 1868 
1835 P. North, John H., D. 1868 
1835 P. North, Esther Gaylord, his widow, L. 1869 
1843 P. North, Esther Maria, D. 1846 
1849 P. North, Sarah Gaylord, D. 1868 
Norton, James, * 
Norton, Harriette, his wife, L. 

1815 P. Obookiah, Henry, D. 1818 

P. Osborn, Esther Strong, wife of Elihu Osborn, L. 



1860 


L. 


Pardee, Isaac S., 






L. 


1868 


1858 


P. 


Pardee, Mary L. Crocker, his wife. 

Peet, Minta, 

Perkins, AVatrous, 

Perkins, Deborah Brace, his widow. 






L. 
D. 


1846 
1865 


1829 


P. 


Phelps, Esther, 






D. 


1861 


1843 


P. 


Phelps, C. Augusta Hay den, wife of J. 


W. 










Phelps, Dr., 






L. 


1847 


1858 


P. 


Philips, Caroline A. Gaylord, wife of Carlos 










A. PhiUps. 










1858 


P. 


Pierce, Henry D., 






L. 


1859 


1868 


L. 


Pierce, Mary. 










1843 


L. 


Pond, Philip, 






D. 


1855 


1843 


L. 


Pond, Nancy, 






D. 


1856 


1838 


L. 


Pond, Burton. 










1821 


P. 


Pond, Charlotte Colt, his wife. 










1858 


P. 


Pond, Julius R. 










1836 


P. 


Pond, Martha A. Watson, his wife. 










1843 


P. 


Pratt, Ann A. Rood, wife of Dea. E. 
Pratt, 


Dw 


ight 


L. 


1847 



18 66 


L. 


1866 


L. 


1858 


P. 


1860 


L. 


1847 


P. 


1858 


P. 


1867 


P. 



100 

1843 P. Pratt, Catharine L. Jones, W. W. 1868 

Preston, Betsey Gaylord, wife of John S. 

Preston, L. 1838 

Rand, George D., L. 1866 

Rand, Martha J., his wife, L. 1866 

Randall, Hannibal, D. 1864 

Reed, Justus, D. 

Reed, Elizabeth Loomis, wife of Maro Reed, L. 1845 

Reed, Theodore H. 

Reed, Sarah 8. Wilcox, his wife, D. 1863 

Reed, Laura E. Birge, his "id wife. 

Reed, Hattie A. 

Richards, Enos F., 
1858 L. Rider, Irene A., Mrs., 

Roberts, Pelatiah, 
1834 L. Roberts, Betsey, widow of Henry Roberts. 

Robinson, Mary, wife of VVm. Robinson, 
:843 P. Rockwell, Dency C, 

Rood, Ebenezer, 

Rood, Rhoda Loomis, his wife, 
P. Rood, Ann, 

Rood, Pamela, 

Rood, Eunice, 

Rood, Rhoda, 

Rood, Calvin, 

Rood, Moses, 

Rood, Ebenezer, 2d, Deacon, 

Rood, Aurelia Ann Loomis, his wife, 

Rood, Rufus. 

Rood, Harvey L., Deacon. 

Rood, Susan Humphrey, his wife. 

Rood, Abigail Hewitt, wife of John Rood, D. 1866 

Rustin, Hiram, W. W. 1866 

St. John, Marilla Lyman, wife of Seth St. John, L. 1 859 
Seymour, Polly Ann Gross, wife of Henry 

Seymour, 
Smith, Ruhamah Loomis, wife of Selby Smith, 

1839 L. Smith, Melvin, 

1839 L. Smith, , his wife, 





P. 




P. 




P. 




P. 


1800 


P. 




P. 


1836 


P. 


1850 


P. 


1848 


L. 


1834 


P. 



W.W 


. 1850 


L. 


1866 


L. 


1855 


D. 


1850 


L. 




D. 


1824 


D. 


1824 


L. 




Ex. 




D. 


1848 


D. 


1849 


D. 


1846 


W. W. 


1847 


D. 


1851 


D. 


1843 



L. 


1841 


L. 


1844 


L. 


1841 


L. 


1841 



D. 


1861 


D. 


1807 


L. 


1839 


L. 


1839 


D. 


1863 


D. 


1838 


L. 


1862 


L. 


1852 


L. 


1852 


L. 





101 

1849 P. Sinitli, llarrictte IFmr/^e//, widow of Nathan- 
el Smith, 

Soper, Racliel Cook, wife of David Soper, 

Spaulding, Silas D., 

Spaulding, Julia A. Button, bis wife, 
1858 P. Spencer, Jeremiah, 

Spencer, Elisheba Goodman, his wife, 
1839 L. Spencer, Eliza Dutton, his widow. 
1831 P. Steele, Eliza Humiohrey, wife of Selah Steele, 
1851 L. Stoddard, Eli, 
1851 L. Stoddard, Olive, his wife. 

Stone, Emily Lyman, wife of Geo. W. Stone, 
1858 P. Strong, Emerett L. Oolt, 2d wife of David 

Strong, L. 1868 

Talmadge, David, 
Talmadge, vSarah, his wife, 
Talmadge, Hila, 
Talmadge, John Adrian, 
Talmadge, James B., 
Taylor, Polly, widow, 

Taylor, Ann Wilson, widow of Joseph Taylor, D. 
Taylor, Emory. 
Taylor, Ann Mather, his wife. 
Taylor, Maria. 
Tolles, Joseph, * 

Tompkins, Thomas, L. 1838 

1816 P. Treadway, Aurelia Gillett, widow of Sith 
Treadway. 
Treadway, Aurelia, 2d, D. 1837 

Tuttle, Ruth TF'?7son,.\sidow of Isaiah Tuttle, D. 1838 
.^uttle, Jra, d(AjX^^^^ "nuJJ^ ' * 

buttle, .1:—^ lliUs, hisjpjfe, So-ruoiv. "> * 

Tuttle, CJemeut, < ', v'^ "^ ^'^ * * 

-v., Tuttle, '■ . liis wife, * 



1832 


L. 


1832 


L. 


1832 


P. 


1843 


P. 


1836 


P. 


1833 


P. 


1833 


P. 


1858 


P. 



L. 


1850 


L. 


1850 


L. 


1859 


L. 


1859 


L. 


1860 


D. 


1843 




1841 


P. 


Tuttle, Lucy, L. 


1844 






Tuttle, Uriel, D. 


1849 


1816 


P. 


Tuttle, Adah Hudson, his widow, D. 


1866 


1821 


P. 


Tuttle, Chloe Colt, widow of Leverett Tuttle. 




1849 


L. 


Tuttle, Cordelia Woodford, widow of James 
H. Tuttle, L. 

14 





102 

1868 P. Van Allen, Caroline E. 

1843 P. Wainwright, Harriette C. Hayden, wife of 

J. A. Wainwright, then M. D., now Rev., L. 1851 

1843 P. Wainwright, Caroline H. Hayden, his 2d wife, L. 
Wakefield, Ann Fyler, wife of Dr. Luman 

Wakefield, L. 1843 
1870 L. Walcolt, Dana Mills. 
1870 L. Walcott, Elizabeth Billings, his wife. 

P. Watson, Levi, D. 1798 

Watson, Abigail Ensign, his widow, D. 1819 
Watson, Lucy Olmsted, wife of Levi Watson, 2d, D. 1834 

Watson, Huldah, D. 1822 

Watson, Julia, L. 1841 
1849 P. Watson, William Henry, W. W. 1868 

1822 P. Watson, Anna Tl/oore, wife of David Watson, D. 1852 
1816 P. Watson, Harvey. 

1808 P. Watson, Sally Wells, his wife. 

1831 P. Watson, Reuel A., D. 1851 

Watson, Milo, L. 1837 

Watson, George, Ex. 1848 

Watson, Jane Belden, his wife, L. 1849 

1823 P. Watson, Thomas, Deacon, L. 1855 
1821 P. Watson, Emeline (7^^r«^*, his wife, L. 1855 
1851 P. Watson, Charlotte E., L. 1855 
1813 P. Watson, Sarah (rayorf/, wife of Alvan Watson, D. 1859 

1824 P. Watson, William, Deacon. 

1857 P. Watson, Melissa Cadwell, his wife. 

1857 P. Watson, Sarah Jane, D. 1859 

Wedge, Parintha, wife of William Wedge, L. 1845 
Wells, Martha, D. 1826 

Wells, Nancy, D. 1846 

Wetmore, Fanny Austin, wife of Deacon 
Lauren Wetmore, L. 

1841 L. Wetmore, Sarepta, L. 1850 

1845 L. Wilcox, Elias. 

1816 P. Wilcox, Florilla A. TFaifson, his wife. 
1866 L. Wilcox, Charles, L. 1868 

1866 L. Wilcox, Charlotte /for;, his wife, L. 1868 

1866 L. Wilcox, Maria E., L. 1868 

1822 P. Wilson, Mary Roberts, wife of Wm. Wilson. 



103 

Wilson, Austa Tabnadge, wife of William 

Wilson, 2d, L. 1848 

Wilson, Darius, L. 1839 

Wilson, Clarissa Treadwoy, his Avife, L. 1839 

1843 P. Woodruff, Julia Ann Marsh, wife of Freder- 
ick Woodruff, L. 1854 
1843 P. Woodward, James G. 
1848 L. Woodward, Catharine M. Steele, his wife. 
1851 L. Woodward, Orpah Ann Kellogg, wife of Elijah Wood- 
ward. 

1850 L. Young, Clal'inda Lyman, wife of Franklin Young; 



A COMPLETE LIST OF THE MEMBERS OF THE 
CHURCH, 

At the close of the Sabbath, January 2, 1870. 



Bailey, Tamisen Blood, widow of Randall Bailey. 

Barber, John Catlin. 

Barber, Sarah Miller, his wife. 

Barber, Chester. 

Barber, Chester Hopkins. 

Barber, Maria E. Blale, his wife. 

Barber, Willard Osgar. 

Barber, Mary Ellen Woodtaard, his wife. 

Barber, Sarah B. 

Birge, RosAvell. 

Birge, Allstyne M. 

Birge, Eliza M. Hetvitt, his wife. 

Birge, Nathaniel. 

Birge, Martha Ann. 

Birge, Sally Barber, wife of George Birge. 

Birge, Celia M. 

Birge, Julia Waterman, wife of Wilbur F. Birge. 

Bissell, Roderick. 

Bissell, Fanny Gaylord, his wife. 



Admitted. 


When. 


How 


1858 


L. 


1832 


P. 


1821 


P. 


1851 


P. 


1843 


P. 


1845 


L. 


1849 


P. 


1849 


P. 


1867 


P. 


1843 


P. 


1858 


P. 


1861 


L. 


1827 


P. 


1858 


P. 


1844 


L. 


1867 


P. 


1870 


P. 


1859 


P. 


1859 


P. 



104 



Bissell, Esther Ann. 

Blakeslee, Martha E. 

Burr, Fanny Taylor, 2d wife of Uriel Burr. 

Burr, Uri Curtis. 

Burr, Sarah Mix, his wife. 

Burr, Lucius. 

Burr, Sarah Jane Woodruff, his wife. 

Burr, George A. 

Burr, Mary Adelaide. 

Burr, F. Ella. 

Burr, Milo. 

Burr, Lavinia E. Burlbut, wife of John Milo Burr. 

Cleveland, John Robert McDowell. 

Colt, Henry. 

Colt, Chloe Catlin, his wife. 

Colt, George K. 

Colt, Margarette E. GriswolJ, his wife. 

Colt, Lunian. 

Cook, Jane M. Hand, wife of Cluirles N. Cook. 

Curtis, Hermon. 

Curtis, C. Cecilia Stillman, his wife. 

Curtis, Emily Cornish, widow of Truman Curtis. 

Curtis, Hezekiah P. 

Curtis, Amelia Parsons, his wife. 

Curtis, Ella A. 



1867 P. Daniels, Louisa. 

1843 P. Durand, William. 

1827 P. Durand, Loanna Barber, his wife. 

1858 L. Eggleston, Mary E. Hoyden, wife of Augustus E. 

1858 P. E-gleston, Cynthia A. 

1858 P. Eggleston, Sophia D. 

1869 P. Engert, Louisa. 

1843 P. Foote, Jane E. Humphrey, wife of John C. Foote. 

1833 P. Gaylord, Giles L. 

] 848 L. Gay lord, Sarah Bluhe, his wife. 

1867 P. Gaylord, Hubert L. 



1849 


P. 


1866 


P. 


1822 


P. 


1858 


P. 


1843 


P. 


1849 


P. 


1851 


P. 


1867 


P. 


1867 


P. 


1867 


P. 


1835 


P. 


1858 


P. 


1867 


P. 


1831 


P. 


1831 


P. 


1858 


P. 


1858 


P. 


1868 


P. 


1851 


L. 


1851 


P. 


l«,r2 


L. 


1847 


L. 


1855 


L. 


1855 


L. 


1866 


P. 



1867 


P. 


1867 


P. 


1826 


P. 


1857 


L. 


1843 


P. 


1866 


P. 


1866 


P. 


1867 


P. 


1868 


P. 


1858 


P. 


1834 


P. 


1866 


P. 


1868 


P. 


1868 


P. 


1865 


L. 


1857 


L. 


1857 


L. 


1870 


P. 


1866 


L. 


1831 


P. 


1831 


P. 


1849 


P. 


1849 


P. 


1867 


P. 


1867 


P. 


1867 


P. 




P. 


1802 


P. 


1821 


P. 


1843 


P. 


1821 


P. 


1858 


P. 


1862 


L. 


1867 


P. 


1867 


P. 


1847 


L. 


1847 


L. 



105 

Gay lord, Mary L. 

Goodwin, Sarah M. 

Griswold, Margarette Gaylord, widow of Thaddeus Gris- 

wold. 
Griswold, Sarah Glarh, wife of Richard W. Griswold. 
Griswold, Isabella Kellogg, wife of Stanley Griswold. 
Griswold, Isabella W. 
Griswold, Anna M. 
Griswold, Nellie P. 

Harrison, Richard. 

Hart, Jane Tuttle, widow of Salmon Hart. 

Hathaway, Mary E. Curtis, widow of Jared Hathaway. 

Hathaway, Anna F. 

Hayden, Charles H. 

Hewitt, Alice M. 

Hopkins, Anna Palmer, widow of Seymotir Hopkins. 

Hopkins, Harvey P. 

Hopkins, Lydia Tanner, his wife. 

Hopkins, Gertrude Waterman, wife of Edward Hopkins 

Humphrey, Dorothy Miller, wife of George Humphrey, 

Johnson, Levi Freeman. 

Johnson, Maria Morris, his wife. 

Johnson, Jarvis B. 

Johnson, Elijiabeth Hill, his wife. 

Johnson, Levi B. 

Johnson, Emily A. 

Johnson, Julia A. 

Loomis, Laura Lyman, wife of Emory Loomis, 
Lyman, Salome Maltby, widow of John Lyman. 
Lyman, JohnBennett. 

Marsh, Lydia S. 

Miller, Maria. 

Miller, Hobart B. 

Miller, Fanny E. Mather, his wife. 

Miller, Harriette L. Hewitt, wife of Lewis B. Miller. 

Miller, Luther B. 

Minei*, Uarius D. 

Miner. Mary E. Wadsworth, his wife. 



106 

Miner, Mary Ellen. 

Miner, Martha E, Frost, widow of Charles Miner. 

Miner, John Stanley, 

Miner, Josephine. 

Murray, Warren Brooker. 

Pardee, Mary L. Crocker, wife of Isaac S. Pardee. 

Perkins, Deborah Brace, widow of Watrous Perkins. 

Philips, Caroline A. Gaylord, wife of Carlos A. Philips 

Pierce, Mary. 

Pond, Burton. 

Pond, Charlotte Colt, his wife. 

Pond, Julius R. 

Pond, Martha A. Watson, his wife. 

Reed, Theodore H. 

Reed, Laura E. Birge, his wife. 

Reed, Hattie A. 

Roberts, Betsey, widow of Henry Roberts. 

Rood, Rufus. 

Rood, Harvey L., Deacon. 

Rood, Susan Humphrey, his wife. 

1839 L. Spencer, Eliza Dutton, widow of Jeremiah Spencei'. 

1833 P. Taylor, Emory. 

1833 P. Taylor, Ann Mather, his wife. 

1858 P. Taylor, Maria. 

1816 P. Treadway, Aurelia Gillelt, widow of Sith Treadway.. 

1821 P. Tuttle, Chloe Colt, widow of Leverett Tuttle. 

1868 P. Van Allen, Caroline E. 

Walcott, Dana Mills. 

Walcott, Elizabeth Billings, his wife. 

Watson, Harvey. 

Watson, Sally Wells, his wife. 

Watson, William, Deacon. 

Watson, Melissa Cadwell, iiis wife. 

Wilcox, Elias. 

Wilcox, Florilla A. Watson, his wife. 

Wilson, Mary Roberts, wife of William Wilson. 

Woodward, James G. 



1867 


P. 


1858 


L. 


1867 


P. 


1868 


P. 


1858 


P. 


1858 


P. 


1858 


P. 


1868 


L. 


1838 


L. 


1821 


P. 


1858 


P. 


1836 


P. 


1860 


L. 


1858 


P. 


1867 


P. 


1834 


L. 


1836 


P. 


1850 


P. 


1848 


L. 



1870 


L. 


1870 


L. 


1816 


P. 


1808 


P. 


1824 


P. 


1857 


P. 


1845 


L. 


1816 


P. 


1822 


P. 


1843 


P. 



1()7 

1848 L. Woodward, Catherine M. Steele, his wife. 
1851 L. Woodward, Orpah Ann Kellogg, wife of Elijah Wood- 
ward. 

1850 L. Young, Clarinda Lyman, Mrs. 

Males, 44; Females, 88; Total, 132, including 4 absent. 



WAH 11 1907 



,v.rK 



